Classroom pix sparks race row

JOHANNESBURG: A South African primary school teacher was suspended on Thursday after a photograph appeared to show black children sitting separately from white children in a classroom, sparking a storm of racism accusations.

The pupils were attending their first day at the Schweizer-Reneke school in North West province when the teacher took a photograph to send to anxious parents. It rapidly spread on social media as it showed about 17 white children sitting around a large table, with four black children around a small corner table in the background.

"From the information I got from the meeting, it seems that there are a lot of cases here of racism," provincial education minister Sello Lehari said after visiting the school. "I will send a team to do an investigation into all schools... to deal with issues of racism in totality."