School dress code to be more inclusive of Rastafari and other religious faiths

Members of the Rastafarian community are being given the assurance that school policy governing dress code will be reviewed in the coming months and their concerns will be taken into account.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw gave that promise following complaints from some parents that their Rastafarian children who had locs were being given a hard time by some principals on their return to face-to-face learning.

“We will take into account all of the concerns raised by the persons of various faiths and we will develop a policy that is inclusive to all,” she said.

According to the National Rastafari Registry Secretariat and Trust (NRRST), several parents have been requesting letters stating that their children are Rastafarians so they can be allowed to attend classes.

However, the NRRST said this was tantamount to “colonial tendencies”, since the same was not done for other religious groups.

In a statement to Barbados TODAY, the organisation said that one parent was upset that her son was being questioned by the principal about his religion and being asked what “tribe” he belonged to.

The NRRST said while it did not have a problem with providing the letter for the children so they could be allowed an education, it was not fair to Rastafarians since other religious groups did not have to prove their faith.

“Why do Rastas need a letter from a so-called authority in Rastafari saying that someone is Rastafari? Do Christians need a letter from their priests to say that they are Christians for any particular needs they may have? Do Muslims have to bring a letter to say that this child is Muslim from a Muslim family?

“When the parent is telling the school ‘my child is a Muslim’, ‘my child is a Christian’, ‘my child is a Rasta’, the Rastafari parent has to go now somewhere else to a leader within the movement, which really and truly you are only limiting Rastafari,” contended the organisation, a nondenominational organ of the Rastafari community whose main goal is to facilitate cooperation amongst Rastafari in Barbados.

Saying that it has received “several messages from parents seeking a letter from what principals from varying schools are calling the leader of a Rastafari tribe”, the NRRST added: “This in itself speaks to their ignorance of Rastafari because it is not a tribe or anything like that . . . . The only leader within Rastafari is Haile Selassie. You may have community activities and elders, but really and truly Rastafari, although communal, is an individual tradition. So no one really can say who is Rasta and who is not Rasta. It is for the parents in that family, and that should be good enough for the school. Why do we have to go further out than that?”

The organisation said there seemed to be a “fight against locs” and that it “stinks of colonialism and still stinks of Eurocentric standards of what is beautiful, what is tidy, and what is neat and what is acceptable”.

However, Archer-Bradshaw told Barbados TODAY that the policy has always been for boys to wear a “simple, low haircut” or present a letter if they were entering the school for the first time with locs as part of their religion.

“So, in this case, if the young man was converted to the Rastafari faith [over the past two years], he should inform the school because, of course, it would be a deviation from the point of reference. If he is converted to Rastafari he brings a letter stating such, and of course we allow those children to wear their hair long because they have the evidence to show they are a part of the Rastafari faith,” she explained.

Archer-Bradshaw said since the resumption of classes late last month, it has been drawn to her attention that some boys were attending school with “extremely long hair” because their hair grew during the two years there were no in-person classes.

The Chief Education Officer made it clear that the rules are very clear.

“To date, there has been no change to that policy. So the boys are expected to have their hair cut on re-entry to school. Of course, there are students who have faiths that would allow them to wear their hair long. In that case, letters are required upon entry to school and they are required to cover their hair with a tam. This is not a new policy. This is a policy that has been in place for some time now,” she reiterated.

However, Archer-Bradshaw promised that a review of the school policy will be done “at some point” and the views of the Rastafarian community will be taken into consideration.

“We will review the entire policy in the near future. We will take into account all of the concerns raised by the persons of various faiths and we will develop a policy that is inclusive to all. But as it stands, right now, as of today, the policy is that a boy should have a low haircut unless for religious reasons they have to wear their hair long,” she said.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb