An eight-year-old girl is being kicked out of class every day for wearing her natural hair at the Kings College in Mdantsane.
The girl’s father, small business owner Siseko Siwisa, said his daughter was denied entry to her classes after he failed to sign a new code of conduct preventing dreadlocked pupils to the school.
When the Dispatch visited the private school on Tuesday afternoon, the little girl was found wearing neat, one centimetre plaits, not dreadlocks.
Sitting unattended in the school’s reception area in her uniform with her books, her arms held awkwardly at her sides, she cut a forlorn figure.
When asked why she had been sent out of class, the girl, holding back tears, replied: “I do not know why I am sitting here alone ... they said it’s because of my father.”
She said she had been denied entry to class on Monday and told to sit in the reception area. The Dispatch asked to speak to the principal and was told to wait.
A smartly dressed man who refused to give his name asked “Are you from the newspaper?” and then said: “We will not talk to the press about this.
“We have no comment. We will send you a response via e-mail later today.”
No e-mail was received.
An irate Siwisa said: “The problem started when the school changed their code of conduct this year. Parents had to sign it before the children could go back to class.
“I read it briefly and told them that I cannot sign it because they wanted my daughter to relax her hair.”
Siwisa accused the school of discrimination.
“They can’t force my child to relax her hair while she is happy with her natural hair. They want her to put chemicals on her hair when she is perfectly fine the way she is.”
He said the child had attended the school last year.
“We never had this problem last year.
“Her hair could be like that because of our own religion or belief even though we are not Rastas. They called me on Friday and I told them I will not sign the new code of conduct, and then they just told her not to go to class anymore.
“She has been sitting at the reception all alone watching other children continue with their studies.”
The father of two said he feared the impasse could delay his child’s studies. “I asked them if they can’t let my child attend classes so long while we sort this out because it can take weeks or months to sort this problem out,” he said.
“I reported this to the department of education and they said they will get back to us.”
Siwisa added: “What they are doing is against the law. They are discriminating against an African child. She has always had dreadlocks. I wanted her to be proud of being black and not see a need to relax her hair or go for hair extensions just to fit into society.
“If she wants to relax her hair she can but she chose to keep it natural and it’s not even untidy or dirty.”
He said the child kept on asking her parents: “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with my hair?”
In a WhatsApp text sent to the father by the school management, the school emphatically states that the girl’s hairstyle is not accepted.
“Good morning, all learners were archived and then later restored into the system after the parents completed/signed the code of conduct and terms and conditions of the school.
“The position of the management is that the booklet that you received is comprehensive enough to explain the issue of no dreadlocks. You have the right to keep the entire booklet but your acknowledgement of the rules of the school that you signed for translates to total compliance. You’re strongly recommended to comply back in the system as she is currently not in the classroom. Thank you.”
The father said the message was sent by the principal whose name he only knows as “Dlamini”.
The department of education had not replied to questions by the time of writing on Tuesday...