Students at Pretoria Girls High recently held a protest after their teachers allegedly told them that their “exotic” hair needed to be tamed.
According to CNN, a video of 13-year-old Zulaikha Patel and her classmates went viral on social media after they were seen protesting against their schools hair policy. In the video the students are seen in a standoff with private security guards yelling, “take us all they’re going to arrest us.”
Patel said, “The issue of my hair has been a thing that’s followed me my entire life, even in Primary I was told my hair is not natural, it’s exotic, my Afro was not wanted or anything like that and then the issue followed me to High School.”
Pretoria Girls High, which was established in 1902, and was all white during apartheid, did not become integrated until 1990. Their policy does not name Afros in general, but does mention appearance, which includes all styles being “conservative, neat and in keeping with the school uniform.”
The Gauteng Department of Education said in a recent statement that the schools policy will have to be reviewed, and will be suspended until the meantime.
You can check out the protest video below:
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Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/31/africa/south-africa-school-racism/
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