Education Ministry trying to find balance with hair rules

Aiming to discontinue the effects which current hair rules have brought about, and more so discontinue to report infringement on basic rights, the Education Ministry is continuing with its robust stakeholder consultation to reach a balanced consensus.

Earlier this month, an outpour of concerns was raised after the Ministry facilitated a relaxation of hair rules for International Women’s Day, with persons highlighting that some of their rights were infringed due to stringent requirements.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand has sought to address the issue, which commenced with a national survey. Thousands of persons had responded, sharing their input on expectations and offering suggestions. More such conversations will continue throughout next week.
“We have a roundtable with members of the public who have an interest. We had issued surveys for parents, students and teachers. The response was incredible. Within the first 24 hours, more than 4,000 persons had responded in each category. Next week, I meet teachers, because teachers have their own views on these issues. We’re going to meet parents, just the stakeholders who would be affected by the hairstyle rules that are imposed by schools,” the Education Minister noted.
She told media operatives that the hair rules at each school varies, and while the contention is that some schools should formulate their own rules, another cross-section wants the Ministry to regulate the requirements.
“I have now a collection of what each school has as their own rules, and they range from neat and tidy, and a very subjective interpretation of what that means, to no limzie, muffs, afro, to plaits, no plaits, ribbons must be worn, ribbon must not be worn. The rules are all over the place at individual schools. There’s the argument that schools should be left to make their own rules and given power to do that. There is a prevailing argument that the state should step in and there’s certain basic rights that might be breached by the individual rulemaking at schools. We’re trying to balance both.”
The Minister also outlined that this is a dynamic issue, and a relaxation of some current rules would not affect the curriculum or retention of knowledge in students. She asserted that school rules should not hurt learners.
“These are not things that affect the curriculum in any way, and going past whether it affects learning and reception of information, we’re dealing with a rights issue and a confidence issue and a self-esteem issue. It is a varied and dynamic issue. I think we have seen, over the last couple of weeks from persons who have responded, how they themselves have been hurt and had to recover from that hurt after they had left schools. If there’s one thing we’re sure of, a school should not be a place that is hurting children, or in any way causing them to doubt themselves,” Manickchand noted. (G12)