The excitement of the first day of school yesterday was dampened by yet another racist incident in our schools.

This was after a picture showing black pupils sitting separately from white pupils at a North West school went viral on social media.

Four black children sat at a small desk in a corner far from 18 white kids who occupied one big desk in the middle of a classroom at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke.

A mother of one of the four, who was angered by the incident, said the photo was sent to the school's WhatsApp group. "This was meant to be an exciting day for me but it's not," said the parent.

Asked how she felt about the incident, she said she hoped her five-year-old child was still too young to have noticed what was going on. "But I am p****d off."

The school principal apparently told parents she was not aware of the situation.

This was not the first time children have been subjected to racism in the country's schools.

Curro Foundation School in Roodeplaat was found guilty of racism after a probe by the Gauteng education department. Pupils were racially segregated in classrooms in January 2015.

The school apologised and de-segregated classes.

In June 2015, the same facility was again rocked by racism after a video showed pupils separated in racial groups as they prepared for a field trip. The head of the school was fired later that month.

In June 2016, a picture of a black toddler sitting alone while six white children sat together at Koetjes en Kalfjes Heritage Hill Campus in Centurion also went viral.

The creche denied it was racism. They said the pic was misunderstood but the black kid was removed from the school by her parents.

It is disgusting to see racism still has a place in our schools 24 years into our democracy.

We call on the department to sack and blacklist for life all teachers who are perpetrators of racism in public schools.

They do not deserve to be called teachers and cannot be allowed to continue to instil their wicked ways on innocent minds.

The department must also revoke operating licences and shut down all private schools found guilty of racism.

Enough is enough!