Addington Primary protests ‘are traumatising pupils’
As tensions escalate outside Durban's Addington Primary School, the Parents Association in KwaZulu-Natal says it's worried about the trauma the children are being exposed to.
" With all that is happening there, especially with the protests that are happening on the outside, the disagreements with the presence of police there, I think all we are doing is just traumatising children, and we are not supposed to be doing that. We can't do that," says chairperson of the KZN parents association, Vee Gani.
Protests by the March and March group over the school’s admissions process are in their second week.
The demonstrators claim the children of foreign nationals are being enrolled ahead of South Africans.
The KZN Education has rejected the claims, describing the protests as politically motivated and stressing that schools must remain disruption-free learning spaces.
Officials from the department are currently at the school - along with police, who are monitoring the situation.
Gani says protesting outside the school -- particularly when it turns volatile -- only draws attention to an issue that can be resolved through appropriate and lawful channels.
" This is getting out of hand, and the police must remove protestors from it because that's a school environment, it's a learning institution, and if the parents want or those are disgruntled, they need to then engage with the Department of Education. That's where you resolve the issues, because that's a learning and teaching institution.
"The Department of Education is involved. I mean, they are the custodians. They will tell you, we can admit, we can't admit, and these are the reasons why."
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