Now hair row rocks Durban school
DURBAN’S Sastri College has been rocked by hair protests, with pupils demanding to be allowed to wear hair extensions and claiming they were victims of racism.
The protests come in the wake of a hair furore at Pretoria High School for Girls last week and similar protests at Sans Souci Girls’ High School in Cape Town by African schoolgirls.
The Greyville school yesterday agreed to review its code of conduct and would again allow girls to braid their hair.
Sastri principal, Rajan Maharaj, said they had imposed a ban on hair extensions two years ago – in consultation with parents and stakeholders – after a pupil arrived at school with brightly-coloured extensions. This had prompted other girls to follow suit.
About 150 pupils picketed outside the school gates yesterday, leading to a two-hour meeting between pupils and teachers.
Maharaj said they had been stunned by the picket, because no one had raised complaints about the hair extensions ban in the past two years.
One of the picketing pupils, a Grade 11 pupil, whose name is known to the Daily News, said the school’s code of conduct was “oppressive” and favoured other races, while it neglected them as Africans.
The 17-year-old said their demonstration was about more than hair-related grievances: it sought to address issues of inequality and alleged racism towards black pupils.
She said that teachers had referred to pupils as “barbarians” for speaking in their home languages, Zulu and Xhosa.
A Grade 10 pupil said her afro had been labelled as a “bush”.
“When I tell the teachers that my hair is natural, they turn a deaf ear and tell me to put relaxer. But Indian kids’ hair runs beyond shoulder length and on to their back,” said the 16-year-old.
Responding to the pupils’ comments, Maharaj said that he had addressed his staff about their manner of communication and language use in the classroom.
He said pupils were encouraged to speak English because the school “is an English medium of instruction school”. He said many pupils struggled with spoken and written English – so using it at school would help them improve.
He rebutted claims that pupils had been barred from conversing in their mother tongues.
“The teachers know that abusive and insensitive lan- guage is not tolerated in the school, they have been told that such language will lead to disciplinary measures as set out in the South African Educators Council,” Maharaj said.
KZN Education MEC, Mthandeni Dlungwane, last week told the Daily News that school policies had to be consistent with the constitution.
Dlungwane’s spokesman, Kwazi Mthethwa, said: “We live in a diverse society with different races, traditions and cultures.
“No child must be denied an education, schools must not isolate other races deliberately with their policies.”
He said pupils should not be barred from speaking their home languages despite English being a medium of instruction.
Parents and pupils can address school complaints to Kwazi Mthethwa: kwazi08@ gmail.com