According to Dr Martin Fawyers, the father of the said learner, the school’s circuit manager had told grade 12 learners at the school that as long as they stuck to wearing black slacks or a skirt with a white shirt, they had liberty to wear whatever they wanted to. OFM News’ Pulane Choane reports that instead of being sent home to change, the Grade 12 learner was then asked to parade her uniform in front of the entire school.

Fawyers said on Monday, 7 January earlier this year, his daughter showed up at school with her personalised uniform and she received applause from staff at the school on how she looked. However, the following day, she was subjected to insults from staff and was asked to parade her uniform in front of the whole school during assembly. OFM News previously reported that the spokesperson of the Northern Cape Department of Education, Lehuma Ntuane, said the department is aware of the incident and condemns the humiliation aspect of it but could not intervene as school dress and uniform are the prerogative of the school’s governing body (SGB)

“They publicly humiliated my child. To me, that is the issue. The issue is not so much on the school uniform? Why didn’t they on Tuesday send her home with a letter addressed to us as her parents, explaining that what she wore was not what they wanted? Why did they wait for Tuesday for a crowd to do that and that for me is the issue. It’s not so much about the uniform issue but rather about the humiliation,” Fawyers told OFM News.

Faywers said since the incident, he believes that the school has launched a series of attacks against his daughter as she was allegedly singled out after the school instructed her to stop wearing the t-shirts prescribed for matriculants at the school, which other learners are allowed to wear. Furthermore, he said the school has suggested for him to move his daughter to another school, as he is not happy with how the school handled the situation.

He says the incident has traumatised his daughter severely and she no longer looks forward to going to school. He intends to meet with the school’s Head of Department as well as the provincial Education Department as the school refuses to apologise. Fawyers said instead of apologising, the school told him that it was its prerogative to decide on the learner’s dress code. He said while he understands the school exercising its prerogative on the uniform matter, he does not understand why the school needed to humiliate her by asking her to parade in front of the school during assembly. He said he will now seek legal advice and possibly lay a case against the Department as the school refuses to apologise. Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Northern Cape Department of Education, Lehuma Ntuane, said the department is aware of the incident and condemns the humiliation aspect of it but could not intervene. OFM News could not reach the Homevale High School principal for comment. This is a developing story.

OFM News