The "n" word comes to Namibia

Last week I had a disruption in my classroom that I had never imagined. One of my learners was talking so I asked him to answer a question pertaining to the topic. When I called on him he replied, “What nigger?” The class immediately roars with laughter and shock. I was pissed. I start to move towards him as I yell for him to leave my class. He leaves without any hesitation and I go back to teaching and continue my lesson as normally as possible. The irony of the situation was not lost on me and I almost burst out laughing later in the class period but I needed to keep my angry face so the learners understand it’s a serious matter. The question then became, “What punishment is acceptable for this child?” He knew he was saying something rude but he didn’t realize the full extent of what he was saying. I went and discussed it with my principal. The next day I went to Windhoek to see some friends before they left. I returned and heard nothing about it for the rest of the week. I asked another teacher to explain what the word meant to the learner and why it was such a big deal. He did this both in KKG and in Afrikaans so the learners could understand fully. I approached the principal the following Monday with (what I thought was) a fair punishment. I said the learner is not allowed to attend classes for 3-5 days and instead has to work with the janitors to clean the school yard. I thought it was comparable to an in school suspension type of punishment. She agreed it sounded like an alternative to beating him. Wednesday I had a meeting with my HOD, the learner, and his parents. I told them what happened, why it was wrong, and what I recommend as a punishment. My HOD translates because my Afrikaans is not good enough to handle this complex of a situation and their English is not good enough to understand me. The parents are in favor of us beating learner and sending him on his way. We informed them that corporal punishment is illegal in this country and because these are official proceedings that cannot be a punishment. The parents then argue that missing three days of school is too much and that they would rather pull their child out of school than have that child clean the school yard for three days. They stated that missing any school would be too much and that if the child is going to miss school as punishment they will just take him out of school. I don’t understand this mindset. It’s completely illogical. The notes of the meeting were sent to the principal and she decided that he will clean up the school yard from 1pm to 5pm for three days. I don’t think he or any other learner in this school will ever say that word again because of the punishment and the commotion is caused. As a side note when we talked to him about what he thought the word meant he said he thought it was a curse word like “fuck or shit or asshole.” Still, not a word to say to a teacher.