Zulaikha Patel Is Taking A Stand Against School Policies That Frown At Natural Black Hair #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh

 

Zhulaika Patel, 13-year-old student of Pretoria Girls’ High School in South-Africa has stood up for herself and her friends when she was asked to tame her natural hair “afro” because it was “exotic.”
Zhulaika and her fellow classmates staged a silent protest against their school’s hair policy.

Zhulaika’s elder sister, Amira Patel told dailyvox that Zhulaika had changed school three times because of her hair and that other children had laughed at her and calle dher har cabbage.

She also noted that the school’s code of conduct was biased and one-sided and was not a system that could fit everybody, as she was once a student of the school before she graduated.


“I had recently cut my hair, so it was a small afro and I was repeatedly called out of class by one of the members of staff, who called my hair incorrect, said my hair was untidy, not fit for school and once threatened to cut my hair with scissors,” she said.

She explained that black girls were repeatedly called out of class for having untidy hair when their hair is natural or their hair being incorrect .

A petition to end school’s alleged practices has got more than 20,000 signatures