Two secondary students have complained to the Australian Human Rights Commission after being suspended from a private regional Victorian school over “disgusting” uniform requirements.
Year 10 and 11 students Safhira and Amayah Rowe were sent home from Highview College in Maryborough on Tuesday after refusing to wear their hair tied back – a school policy – because they said it caused them pain. They both wear their African hair in braids.
The Highview College principal, Melinda Scash, confirmed the students had not been in attendance at the school and were cut off from all resources. She said their mother had also been banned from the site due to “aggressive” behaviour. “They’re choosing not to come,” she said.
“We will never acquiesce to aggression, threats or vilification.”
Scash said the college’s uniform expectations were “transparent and constantly … updated”, including in “direct response” to the Rowe family’s advice.
She said the word “brushed” had recently been removed from the requirement for “neatly brushed hair” after recognition it was culturally insensitive to many students, while the college had also removed “multiple braids” and “dreadlocks” from definitions of “extreme hairstyles”. Shoulder-length hair can be worn out.
Scash said the two students were “choosing” not to accommodate school expectations, which continued to require that beads, glass and adornments were not embedded into hairstyles, and had never previously raised concerns with staff about head pain.
“Amayah was calmly, consistently and persistently asked by staff to tie her braids back, and she most often did comply; reluctantly, but without protest,” she said.
Scash said the uniform requirements only became a “point of contention” when Rowe arrived with her girls on Tuesday and asserted they would not comply with college requirements. The dispute was first reported by the ABC.
“Following this dramatic and unexpected exclamation, the girls most definitely were directed by me not to attend their classes and to go home and to take some time to reconsider their choices,” she said.
“As principal, I never negotiate when ultimatums are being demanded … I …suspended their access to on-line resources and access to their teachers.
“Attendance at school is important and Highview teachers are not required to cater specifically for students who are choosing not to comply with college expectations.”
Their mother, Rebecca Rowe, said she had tried to discuss the matter with Scash and was told if they did not like it they could leave.
Rowe said Amayah had been pulled aside by the principal on Monday to discuss the uniform code and she had arrived to pick her up early on Tuesday when Scash emerged from her office. She said while the meeting was “emotionally charged”, nobody was aggressive.
“I never said they wouldn’t comply, I said they couldn’t,” she said.
“It’s frustrating, we’re in a rural area with limited schools, and [leaving] has been the only option anyone’s given.
“There’s no resolution in sight. The whole situation is crazy. How could this be happening over a hairstyle that’s neat and tidy?”
Courtney, who did not want to use her surname, attended Highview College until 2017. She said during this time, she visited Bali multiple times and would return from holiday with her hair in braids.
“I was never once asked to tie my hair back or take my braids out … they were never mentioned at all,” she said. “This is just disgusting.”
Scash said the multiple braid guideline was not changed until 2019 and it was likely someone returning from Bali would have been “given time” before being asked to take it out.
Jessica, who didn’t want to use her real name, attended the school for five years and left at the end of 2011. She said she “never” had to have her hair tied up.
“I don’t think having your hair down affects learning at all,” she said. “It’s so wrong … they clearly just want to learn so I think it’s really sad.”
Angelica Ojinnaka, the director of youth leadership at African Women Australia Inc (AWAU), said the problem was systemic. As a teenager, she was told to get rid of her braids because they would “prevent her from getting a career”.
“African people need to be supported to be who they are … hair is our identity, part of us. Schools shouldn’t make it harder for us to navigate when it’s already a challenge enough,” she said.
Dr Virginia Mapedzahama is AWAU’s director of research and a black feminist critical race scholar.
“This is about our bodies,” she said. “We can’t take off our skin, neither can we take off this hair.”
Mapedzahama said while the school’s policy may not have been designed to be discriminatory, the problem arose when different bodies entered the space and nothing was changed.
“Australia is very behind,” she said. “We’re not having genuine conversations about race. Difference isn’t a bad word.”
Cynthia Simango is an afro texture and curly hair educator and founder of Embrace For Every Curl.
“Most white Australians with short hair have never thought about their hair when they wake up,” she said. “They can take a shower, blow-dry their hair and tie it back. You cannot do that with black hair.
“If we put our hair into a tight bun or ponytail we get headaches and it affects the hair’s health.”
