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Yesterday a Facebook post went viral claiming a group of black learners were sent home from private school Windsor House Academy because their hair was deemed unacceptable by the school principal, Mariette Van Heerden.
Not only did the principal allegedly send the students home from school but many of these students claim that van Heerden insulted their characters because of said hairstyles, calling then ‘idiots’. Today the MEC of Education, Mr Panyaza Lesufi is heading to the school to investigate the allegations.
READ: Kempton Park principal allegedly sends girls home from school for 'inappropriate' hairstyles
The post which was created by Siyabonga Ngwenya, tells of how her niece, Zinhle and a few other girls have had constant issues with the school’s principal when it comes to the way they wear their hair.
We spoke to Siyabonga, Zinhle and Nkele Mathe, another mother whose child is in the school. All three have accused Van Heerden of misconduct and ill treatment of her students.
“I don’t know why there’s such an issue with braids, or dreads or afros. My niece tells me it’s been deemed as ‘unprofessional’. The principal has said that it’s ‘too much’, saying that some afros are too big or some dreads are too long and the girls are trying to look older. I don’t know what she’s insinuating. I don’t know what reason they would want to look older for," says Siyabonga.
She also says that she’s speaking out now because she’s realised things won’t ever change since her niece has been at the school for nearly five years. “I’ve heard from parents and aunts who have had their children in the school prior to this that this has happened before and the principal’s behaviour is always to shut parents out and she won’t answer the phone. She has literally run away. There was a point where my sister was told that the principal was in a meeting, only to have her come downstairs from the classrooms, after being told she wasn’t even on the premises.”
W24 phoned Van Heerden yesterday afternoon and she said she will respond to our queries via email. After following up again twice and phoning the school again today we have still not received a response.
“She prefers to pick on the kids. So if a child goes home to tell their parents what’s happened and then the next day the parent will come to the school or send a letter, she’ll speak to them and will evade them. Then she’ll pick on the child saying ‘hey, are you the one that told on me? She victimises the kids. So some kids have opted not to tell their parents because of being victimised by the principal.”
Zinhle, an 18-year-old, Grade 12 student at Windsor House Academy says that she and a few other girls were kicked out of school yesterday and told that their hair was “not suitable” for school and that “the principal told us we should leave and go home and fix it. We can only come back to school if our hair is deemed appropriate by her.”
"She’s said that our hair is ‘unruly’ and ‘too much’ and ‘unprofessional’ and has said that it wouldn’t be acceptable in a working environment. That when we go to work one day, our bosses will be upset with us for coming to work with braids or any other different hairstyle and it interrupts our work,” says Zinhle.
Nkele, a mother of one of Windsor House’s learners told us that her child was forced to cut off her dreadlocks. “In the beginning of the year when my daughter was enrolled in the school she was told that as part of the Code of Conduct she had to cut off her dreads. Yet when she started school we found out there were other kids who still had dreadlocks. It left me very confused.”
But it’s not just the students’ hair Van Heerden has commented on.
Zinhle says: “She calls us names. She would tell us that we are not performing when it comes to academics. She calls us idiots and belittles us every day. She says we will never get far in life if we carry on with such behaviour that she deems inappropriate. And she tells us that she’s seen on Facebook how previous learners are posting pictures of how they have babies instead of being married and having jobs, even though that’s not true.
“She is invasive in our personal lives. She doesn’t allow us to have a proper learning environment. And she blames us for not doing well in school when she wastes most of our time complaining about things that could be avoided because it’s not a big deal. It’s just hair. It doesn’t interfere with our learning, but she interrupts us every day by complaining and telling us that we aren’t proper or that we don’t adhere to her standards.
“I feel violated and angry because I’ve been at this school for four years, this is my fifth year, and it’s been happening most of the time. She interrupts my learning. I just don’t understand why she needs to do this. It has nothing to do with my education. She needs to make sure the school is working and avoid things like this because this does not matter. It’s just hair.”
W24 is still waiting for comment from the principal and the school.
