NPTAJ: Make dreadlocks an approved hairstyle

The position of the stakeholder group comes amid Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that Kensington Primary did not breached the constitutional rights of a then five-year-old girl, who was told to cut her locks in order to attend the government-run institution based in Portmore.

In a statement the NPTAJ said: “While we await the full judgement in this case, this situation brings to light an even more urgent need for a revision of the MOEYI’s (Ministry of Education, Youth and Information) Dress and Grooming Policy on August 2018, as it pertains to the rights of our children in a fully-diversified world in the 21st century…

“We are requesting the specific inclusion of the term ‘dreadlocks’ as an approved hairstyle for schools to remove any ambiguity that may be interpreted.

“As a nation our culture has evolved over time, and we have embraced diversity in so many ways and in different forms, as it identifies us as a people.

“We therefore call upon the MOEYI to issue an immediate directive to all schools to cease this practice of discrimination and refusal of entry on such grounds and to amend said dress and grooming policy to reflect the modern era in which we live.”

The ruling, minus the written judgement which will be made available at a later date, has sparked widespread condemnation from Jamaicans all over the world, prompting Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Culture and Gender Minister Olivia Grange to issue statements that they are against any form of discrimination, while suggesting that reforming the Education Act for greater inclusivity will be fast-tracked.

Also adding their voice to the discourse is human rights group, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), who had filed an injunction in 2019 on behalf of the Virgo family which allowed the child to remain in school. The JFJ said it is calling for a reform of the laws to combat unjust school rules.

“No child should be denied or threatened with denial of an education because they wear locks. Many children and families across Jamaica have been negatively impacted by this and other unjust rules that police children's appearance in ways that are unreasonable and discriminatory. In many instances, these rules are simply school administrators’ prejudices "dressed up" and formalised,” the JFJ said in a release.  

“We call for a national re-thinking of these restrictions and the values that inform them. We envision a society in which a child's legal right to access education is not secondary to the personal grooming preferences of school administrators.

“We seek a society in which school rules are not blindly defended "because they are rules” without any educationally relevant justifications.”