Parents address St Michael’s School for Girls hair inspection

Parent Ike Moore said the black pupils were given a swimming cap to check how neat their hair is.

“They are lined up and a swimming cap is fitted to their heads to check their level of neatness. If the cap does not fit, your hair is not neat” he said.

Moore has a daughter at the school, and said as parents they took it upon themselves to contact the Education MEC in the Free State. They also met with the school Principal and members of the School Governing Body (SGB).

“We had a frank discussion and the principal took responsibility for instructing the inspection to take place at the school. He also apologised for the timing,” he said.

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Moore said the following agreements were reached:

·    The swimming cap inspection will be stopped with immediate effect.

·     The SGB agreed to suspended discriminatory clauses in the school’s code of conduct.

·      The SGB will meet on Thursday to amend the code of conduct.

·      A series of meetings will take place with staff to discuss the unsatisfactory manner in which the inspection was conducted.

·     The Principal and staff will apologise to the learners and reassure them that the school, parents and educators will always act in accordance to their best interest.

·     All the corrective processes will take place within a particular time frame, to ensure that they are expedited within a reasonable period of time.

·     The Free State Department of Education will monitor all the processes and may conduct an investigation if the need arises.

Moore added the parents were satisfied during the meeting and are confident the Department of Education will monitor the 

developments at the school.

The school was not immediately available for comment.

Edited by Sune du Toit