Tensions simmered on Wednesday outside Hoërskool Overvaal in Gauteng‚ which has been at the centre of a language row.
A parent was knocked out by an EFF protester on Wednesday morning after he made an offensive gesture towards a group of protesting EFF supporters as he dropped off his daughter.
There is a heavy police and private security presence outside the school entrance after the EFF and a few ANC members arrived in numbers and started protesting just meters from the gate. The police have created a barrier between the school gate and hundreds of protesters.
James van Heerden‚ the father of a Grade 8 pupil‚ said parents seeking to enroll their children at the school must look for alternative places to accommodate their language.
"They must take 'no' for an answer because they tried and they didn't win‚ so they can take their kids somewhere else. Every child has a right to learn in their home language and we don't have a colour issue here‚ but they want to make it a colour issue. We've got black kids here who are prepared to learn in Afrikaans‚ so why don't their kids do the same?" Van Heerden asked.
He said if parents want their kids to learn in English‚ they should take them to English-speaking schools instead of causing "havoc" for the school executives.
However‚ another parent who wanted her daughter to enroll at the school‚ said the curriculum should be offered in English and not Afrikaans.
"The reason why we are here is to fight for the rights of our children. There can't be a school which only accommodates one language. We have schools in the townships in Vereeniging which accommodate white pupils and they are taught in English‚ so why can't they do the same?" asked a parent who wanted to remain anonymous.
The parents threatened to burn down the school on Wednesday after Judge Bill Prinsloo ruled against allowing the Afrikaans school to admit English-speaking pupils.
"The only thing we want to achieve is that our children are allowed to learn in this school because it's the best school that our money can buy in this area. We want teachers to do their jobs and teach our kids in English so that it will be easy for them to understand‚" said a parent clad in ANC regalia.
The High Court in Pretoria on Monday blocked a bid by the education department to force Hoërskool Overvaal to admit 55 English-speaking pupils.
Judge Prinsloo found that the department did not have the authority to unilaterally override the school's language policy and that it had failed to assess the school's capacity to accommodate the pupils.
Clashes break out at Hoërskool Overvaal
A parent was knocked out by an EFF protester on Wednesday morning after he made an offensive gesture towards a group of protesting EFF supporters as he dropped off his daughter.
There is a heavy police and private security presence outside the school entrance after the EFF and a few ANC members arrived in numbers and started protesting just meters from the gate. The police have created a barrier between the school gate and hundreds of protesters.
James van Heerden‚ the father of a Grade 8 pupil‚ said parents seeking to enroll their children at the school must look for alternative places to accommodate their language.
"They must take 'no' for an answer because they tried and they didn't win‚ so they can take their kids somewhere else. Every child has a right to learn in their home language and we don't have a colour issue here‚ but they want to make it a colour issue. We've got black kids here who are prepared to learn in Afrikaans‚ so why don't their kids do the same?" Van Heerden asked.
He said if parents want their kids to learn in English‚ they should take them to English-speaking schools instead of causing "havoc" for the school executives.
However‚ another parent who wanted her daughter to enroll at the school‚ said the curriculum should be offered in English and not Afrikaans.
"The reason why we are here is to fight for the rights of our children. There can't be a school which only accommodates one language. We have schools in the townships in Vereeniging which accommodate white pupils and they are taught in English‚ so why can't they do the same?" asked a parent who wanted to remain anonymous.
The parents threatened to burn down the school on Wednesday after Judge Bill Prinsloo ruled against allowing the Afrikaans school to admit English-speaking pupils.
"The only thing we want to achieve is that our children are allowed to learn in this school because it's the best school that our money can buy in this area. We want teachers to do their jobs and teach our kids in English so that it will be easy for them to understand‚" said a parent clad in ANC regalia.
The High Court in Pretoria on Monday blocked a bid by the education department to force Hoërskool Overvaal to admit 55 English-speaking pupils.
Judge Prinsloo found that the department did not have the authority to unilaterally override the school's language policy and that it had failed to assess the school's capacity to accommodate the pupils.
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