Discipline is ‘hair’ to stay: Girl students told to change ‘wild’ style

Teachers and school supervisors here have been requiring female students with “wildly creative” hairstyles to cover their heads because they violate the Ministry of Education's dress code.
“School is not a runway for students to look their best or dye their hair whatever color they want. They should have a toned down look that reflects our society,” said Sara Kabli, manager at a public school.
“It does not look good when students are wildly creative in their outlook and focus on their style because this will affect their image and make them shallow,” she said. Punishing students by forcing them to cover their hair is the best way to solve this problem, said Kabli. “This falls under the rules of behavior and attendance outlined by the Ministry of Education, which states that students should not significantly change their appearance, and should look and dress alike,” she said.
“We are not allowed to force them to change the way they look, we can only force them to cover their hair. We also inform their parents that this behavior is not allowed in our school and their daughters should follow the rules,” she said.
Laila Al-Meterk, director of guidance at the ministry, said action should be taken against such students for violating the rules but this should not involve them covering their hair.
“Teachers should deal with this matter by giving students verbal instructions and warning them in an acceptable and wise manner,” she said. “If a student repeats the violation, the school should notify her parents verbally and in writing, and start working with them to modify the behavior,” she said. One parent, stay-at-home mother Najla Muwata, has slammed a supervisor at a private school for pouring oil on her daughter's hair.
“My daughter has silky hair and I took her to change it at a salon, where they applied a treatment to make it curly. She was instructed to keep the hair dry and not add any moisturizers or oil. I was shocked when she came home from school with her hair covered in cooking oil,” said Muwata.
“My daughter said the supervisor took her to the kitchen and poured the oil on her hair over the sink. When I went to the school the following day, the supervisor said my daughter violated the rules by dramatically changing her hair,” she said.
Muwata said teachers should not do such things without consulting parents. She said schools must provide information on their dress code when students enroll, and “not find creative ways to torture students.”
“I could not reach a higher authority to report this, but we need to know what our rights are in such matters. We need to stop this type of abuse because my daughter lost her dignity and the money we paid at the salon,” she said.