–basic rights being breached, Minister Manickchand says
–national discussion ongoing to decide on way forward with hair policies

EVEN as the Ministry of Education continues to host consultations with various stakeholders who are affected by the hair rules and regulations in place at public schools across the country, subject minister Priya Manickchand has opined that wearing one’s hair naturally has no negative impact on their ability to learn.

Those remarks by the minister come just weeks after the she announced plans to overhaul school rules that disproportionately affect learners, based on gender and ethnicity.

This decision was made by the ministry after sections of the public bemoaned a “hairstyle memo” issued by the Ministry of Education, granting a “one-day permission” for the relaxing of hair rules to allow for females to wear their hair as they desire on International Women’s Day.

Since then, the Education Ministry has been actively engaging learners, parents, teachers, and members of the public to decide on an appropriate and acceptable solution to this issue.

On March 11, the ministry launched an Online survey to record the opinion of stakeholders on current policies that govern hairstyles in the public school system.

Minister Manickchand, in an invited comment, said some 4,000 persons responded to the survey within the first 24 hours, weighing in on the hair regulation policies implemented at schools.

Additionally, Minster Manickchand on Monday said that consultations will be held next week with teachers and head teachers of various schools across the country to get their input on the policies, and any potential recommendations that they might have for structural changes to them.

She related that the ministry currently has a compilation of the rules implemented by several schools, which tend to vary in many instances.

“Next week, I will meet teachers, because teachers have their own views on these issues…I have now a collection of what each school has; their own rules. And they range from neat and tidy, and a very subjective interpretation of what that means, to no limsy, no muffs, to no Afro, to no plaits, to plaits, to ribbons must be worn, to ribbons must not be worn so that the rules are all over the places in the various schools,” Minister Manickchand said.

ONE POLICY
The Education Minister related that while persons are suggesting that the ministry decides upon a universal policy, and implements same in all schools across the country, a decision has not yet been taken on if authorities will take this route, since calls are also being made to afford schools the freedom to make the rules they feel would best benefit children.

Minister Manickchand said that she believes some of the rules implemented are in breach of certain basic rights of the learners enrolled at the schools, noting that the ministry is keen on addressing this, and ensuring that it is changed.

“There are certain basic rights that are being breached by the individuals who will make the rules at schools, and so we’re trying to balance both. For me, I don’t see that some of the rules, you can’t wear sleeveless in school visits, you can’t wear your hair naturally, these are not things that affect the curriculum in any way.

“And going past whether or not it affects learning and reception of information, we’re dealing with a rights issue and a confidence issue a self-esteem issue,” Minister Manickchand said.

The Education Minister said that based on some of the responses received by the ministry in its recent survey, the rules and regulations implemented by several of those schools across the country have left a negative impact on the lives of persons even after they left school.

“We’ve seen over the last couple of weeks from persons who have responded, how they themselves have been hurt and how to recover from that… persons after they left schools and if there is one thing we are sure of is that a school should not be a place that is hurting or in any way causing them to doubt themselves” Minister Manickchand said.

Minister Manickchand said that the ministry will, this Saturday, continue discussions on this topic with a roundtable discussion involving authorities and citizens.