This is according to News24, which reported that the court ordered that the vindicated teacher may be allowed to return to work from Friday onwards. The school featured in headlines three weeks ago when a photograph showing black pupils in a Grade R class sitting separately from white pupils went viral on social media, with many calling Barkhuizen racist.

OFM News’ Pulane Choane reports that it was heard in court that the SGB suspended Barkhuizen despite explaining that she had neither seated the children in the picture which caused a furore on social media nor was she the teacher who was supposed to have been suspended as she was merely supervising the class and was not actually the teacher responsible for the class.

The court heard that three other pictures that were also taken in class that day and these showed no separation. However, by midday, the MEC of Education in the North West, Sello Lehari, had announced her suspension. In a previous interview with OFM News, Lehari’s spokesperson, Freddy Sepeng, said the decision to suspend Barkhuizen was not the MEC’s decision but the school’s SGB. After hearing the news of her suspension being lifted, the teacher told members of the media in Johannesburg that she had missed the school community and could not wait to see the children she teaches.

Meanwhile, trade union group Solidarity, which took the matter to court after Barkhuizen was suspended, said on its Twitter page that they would have discussions with the school’s governing body this afternoon regarding on which date Barkhuizen should return to work.

OFM News could neither reach Lehari, nor Sepeng, for comment on the matter or progress on the ongoing investigation into the incident at the school, wherein other teachers may be involved.

OFM News