Pretoria school threatens to remove children of ‘foreign parents’

This article speaks on the situation of the children of persons considered “foreign” not being allowed onto school property without proper and legal documentation of their residency in the country. A letter sent to parents from Sunnyside Primary School in Pretoria a year after Eastleigh Primary in Edenvale sent theirs, was asking for all foreign parents to submit evidence of their residency. “We‚ therefore‚ urge you to ensure that you submit those documents on or before 21 February 2018‚ after which‚ if no submissions are made‚ the school will alert both the department of home affairs and the South African Police Service of an illegal immigrant harbored‚ with the possibility of immediate deportation‚” the letter reads.

The principles of the schools sending out these letters were advised that they’d be held liable for harboring any illegal immigrants at their schools. Daniel Linde, and Equal Education’s advocate, is calling the removal of learners from their designated educational institutions, regardless of their immigration status, unconstitutional. A letter was then sent to the school by Equal Education resulting in the retraction of the letters sent out by the school. Additionally, a letter was sent to the department of home affairs, as well as the department of education regarding the matter but received no response despite their follow-up with the letters. These letters sent to “all foreign parents” as well as the situation itself has sparked a lot of controversy and  fury as it circulated social media.

Citation:

“Pretoria school threatens to remove children of ‘foreign parents’.” SowetanLIVE, 23 Feb. 2018, www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-02-23-pretoria-school-threatens-to-remove-children-of-foreign-parents/.