A South African teacher has been suspended after a picture showing her pupils seated according to their race emerged on the internet.

The teacher’s intention was to show parents of Schweizer-Reneke primary school that everything was going fine since it was the first day of school.

The picture which was shared to a private Whatsapp group started to go viral when it hit the internet.

According to the Minister of Education for the North West Province, the school, Schweizer-Reneke primary school, coming to the teacher’s defence said that “the learners were separated according to those who could understand Afrikaans and English”.

The school agreed to suspend the teacher “with immediate effect” so that the investigation can be “free and fair”.

TimesLive reveals when parents complained, the school sent another picture to show children had been “moved to different seating spaces to ensure they were not separated according to race”.

Meanwhile, parents of some of the white children have withdrawn their children from the school for safety reasons.

Despite the change of government and the fight against Apartheid, racism is still prevalent in South Africa.