This week, we celebrated International Children’s Day on June 1st. This week also marked almost two weeks of global protests following the murder of George Floyd in the USA. It has been a strange week indeed. I have been on several phone calls with parents, staff members and school leaders about the current chasms being exposed at their schools, by the learners themselves. I have also had several children message me via Instagram, Twitter and email, begging me to protect their anonymity, but voicing their anger at the experiences of racism they are encountering from friends and teachers at their schools. In some cases, the issues are about the current silence of their schools at the pain many of them are experiencing in light of police brutality against black people here at home and abroad. In another case it is that learners are voicing their frustrations online about the behaviour of their teachers and their white friends. In all cases I’ve encountered this week, the school leadership is really struggling with figuring out what to do. Which is why they’ve come to me to offer my expertise.
Lovelyn Nwadeyi
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