A bad hair day for us all

IT WAS only a matter of time before the matter of black pupils’ hair and their hairstyles in former whites-only Model C schools blew up and turned into a race row.

And so it has come to pass that black pupils at Pretoria Girls High last week staged a protest, objecting to the school’s rules on how they should wear their hair.

In the age of social media where news events can be transmitted to millions instantaneously, it has grabbed national headlines, and in typical South African fashion, degenerated into a racism row with politicians, eager to score points, climbing in.

But there is a bigger issue here than black pupils hair. It’s just one among many issues, including subtle and in some cases overt racism that black pupils have to contend with in some former Model C schools.

As many black parents who have children in these schools would know, there are many rules and practices that have not taken into account that 1994 happened.

Sure, the schools have become multi-racial but some have failed to modify their rules so they are sensitive to the needs and backgrounds of pupils of other races.

A few years back a black pupil at a prestigious KwaZuluNatal high school, whose relative had recently died, showed up at school with a cleanshaven head. He was immediately suspended on the grounds this was against school rules.

What the school refused to accept was that this was a cultural practice among traditional Zulu people, a sign that one is in mourning for a deceased relative.

Then there are schools that continue to refuse to offer African languages as a subject even where they have a sizable body of pupils of black African descent.

The same schools would expect all pupils to take Afrikaans as a subject.

Let’s be clear here: we are not against rules and codes of conduct. There are very good reasons they exist in institutions.

Without them, order and discipline would go out the window and there would be chaos. Lack of rules have blighted many township schools throughout the country, to the detriment of millions of children.

But black pupils in former whites-only schools should not be expected to conform to outdated rules that were put in place when these schools were uniracial. What needs to be done? Much as we don’t like a big brother government controlling every aspect of our lives, state schools are funded by taxpayers and there needs to be basic uniform rules that are common for all schools.

The Department of Basic Education must, as a matter of urgency conduct a review of codes of conduct in our schools to ensure they are not contrary to national legislation or discriminatory on the basis of race.