Why does a young black boy get suspended for wearing dreadlocks, while sheikh boys rightly never get questioned for wearing a turban?
Pride argues it is time all institutions starting with schools adopted the Halo Code.
A private girls high school has become the first in the UK to pledge to end discrimination against black hair styles
Sutton High school in south west London has agreed to adopt the ‘Halo Code’, which is a new framework for school uniform policy to stop black students from being unfairly punished.
They are also talking to uniform suppliers about more accommodating head wear including hats and swimming caps and wider hairbands for those who want to push back their hair during science lessons. The new guidelines will finally allow students to wear their nature hair and hairstyles without risking being punished
The Halo code states:
‘We welcome Afro-textured hair worn in all styles including, but not limited to, afros, locs, twists, braids, cornrows,fades, hair straightened through the application of heat or chemicals, weaves,wigs, headscarves and wraps’.
A 12 year old boy was banned from Fulham Boys school in west London because of his dreadlocks. Chikayzea Franders was unbelievably told to cut off his locks or face suspension. His mother finally reached an agreement with the school after taking her case to court.
Last year St John’s senior school in north London only reversed a ban on pupils wearing cornrows after an outcry on social media.
The Halo collective found that over 60% of black pupils had to put up with name calling and uncomfortable questions about their hair at their school and a quarter of adults polled said they still had negative experiences because of their hair texture. Almost half of parents said their children’s school uniform policy penalised Afro hair, even though race-based hair discrimination has been illegal in the UK since the 2010 Equality Act.
It is quite ridiculous in 2020 we have to fight this battle but we do. Can you imagine a sheikh student being told to remove his turban or cut his hair because the child behind him could not see the black board. So why is it only black students have to fight this cause? Could it be because there is a prejudice amongst many schools that black pupils are rebellious and that this is just a form of them not wanting to follow the rules.
Whether we want to believe it or not even our schools suffer in places from institutional racism, there is a reason why our children are suspended and expelled more quickly than their white counterparts, but we have to fight one battle at a time and Pride believes that the Halo code and Sutton High School have provided a framework that all schools and also all corporate organisations need to follow.
