Pretoria - A typical school is usually placed in an open field with enough space for pupils to run around. But not Windsor House Academy in Kempton Park.
The school is situated within the Villa Valencia Office Park in Glen Marais. This, however, is not the reason the school is in hot water.
On Tuesday, Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi paid the school a visit following allegations of 11 girls being thrown off the premises for wearing inappropriate hairstyles.The girls came to school in Afros and braids on the first day of the third term on Monday.
In an intervention between the 140 pupils, principal and the department, the girls told Lesufi that the school’s hair policy changed depending on the principal’s whims.
A Grade 12 pupil said while she wanted to concentrate on the upcoming preliminary examinations, she could not do so because of the “victimisation” at school.
“The code of conduct changes when the principal wants. It says that our hair must be neat and it always is. It also says we cannot dye our hair but there are white girls with ombre and blonde highlights but they are never removed from school,” said the girl, who cannot be named because she is a minor.
A Grade 11 pupil said when they are told to leave the school premises for “bad hair”, they are not allowed to call their parents. “It is not safe. My mom left me in the care of the school and I should be able to call her to come pick me up. I am even demotivated to come to school,” she said.
The owner and principal of the girls’ school, Mariette van Heerden, said she would see this as a “learning curve”.
Dear @Lesufi a parent at Windsor House Academy asked me to send this on her behalf, please assist @EducationGP pic.twitter.com/G8q2H2kl4i
— #Outside Commissar (@S_iphoSihle) May 23, 2017
Addressing the girls, she said: “We have to learn from each other and I am not going to argue with you. School is about running a programme and getting work done. We have a legacy of good hard work which makes us feel proud.”
Lesufi announced all school policy would be suspended for three months as the school management team and five pupil representatives draw up a new one.
“From now on no single learner will be expelled for her hair,” Lesufi said, urging the pupils to respect the school
authorities.
Lesufi said this is the first time the hair issue has been raised in a private school. Last year, the Pretoria High School for Girls was in hot water for not allowing black pupils to have Afros.
Lesufi said Windsor House would be used as a case study for private schools. “The issue has stabilised in public schools and now we will use this as a case study on how to deal with the matter in private schools.”