Following much upset over an “insensitive” activity given to Grade 7s at Parklands College, the teacher responsible has now resigned.

Labelled as a “fun activity”, young students were asked to create an advertisement for a slave trade auction in 30 minutes. To add insult to injury, the winner of the best advert would receive a slab of chocolate when they returned to school.

The school since released a number of statements apologising for the activity and promising that the teacher would attend sensitivity training to ensure nothing like this happened in future.
The teacher has since decided to part ways with the school on the grounds of being constantly scrutinised following the incident, according to Parklands College’s secondary faculty principal Sylvia Steyn.

Past students and parents raised concerns regarding the activity in an outcry that made its way to many social media channels earlier this month. Many felt outraged that children of colour were asked to do such a thing in a school setting and that the teacher did not see the insensitivity in the activity.

Parklands says nothing like this will happen at the school ever again and stated that the teacher in question apologised for his actions and not thinking the activity through more carefully.

“We take note of the insensitive nature of the activity at the end of the Grade 7 presentation on the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The slide has been removed and the teacher has apologised for not thinking it through. The activity was intended to establish awareness of the slave trade and the manner in which the slaves were treated, as well as to teach the learners about using resources. However, we acknowledge that the activity should have been worded differently,” read the statement.

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