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A MOTHER whose teenage daughter was told to go home on the first day of the new school year because her hair was dyed says the school could have handled the situation more tactfully.

Vanessa Petersen, who lives in Tiney Court in Lavender Hill, says her 16-year-old daughter, Nadia, who attended Crestway High School in Retreat up until last week, was asked by one of the teachers to leave the school on the first day because she had blonde highlights in her hair.

Speaking from her home last week, Petersen said that her daughter was called aside by a teacher at the first assembly of the year. Nadia was told to leave the assembly because her hair was streaked blonde. Nadia sent an SMS to her mother, who came to the school to query the matter.

Petersen said she did not think that the school would "have such a big problem" with pupils ha?ving dyed hair and was shocked at the teacher's reaction.

"She told me that she didn't want to hear my story, so at that point I decided to rather leave the school with my daughter. This kind of thing is not a good motivation for pupils on the first day," said Petersen.

"Although I agree that pupils should not dye their hair too much, I think the situation was handled wrongly."

Since the incident, Petersen has decide to dye her daughter's hair to a more natural colour and enrol Nadia at Lavender Hill High School, which is not far from where the family lives.

"I do not want to blacken the school's name but I am just upset that my daughter was targeted for her hair. When I visited the school again the next day for the transfer, other children were still at school with different colours in their hair, yet nothing is being done to them."

When asked to comment, Crestway High's deputy principal, William Leith, said that pupils at the school needed to depict uniformity when in school uniform.

"Parents are welcome to examine our code of conduct, which is clear about this policy. I can't verify if any children were sent home but I would accept it if they were. On the other hand we cannot have individual teachers making rules at the school. If any staff member feels that a child has transgressed the code of conduct, we are open to dialogue with the pupil and the pa?rents," Leith said.

Similarly, the principal of Sibelius High School, Reggi Dreyer, said that efforts to eradicate dyeing of hair by both girls and boys at the school were also made last week.

"We had some opposition to our request but on the whole our efforts were successful. Parental support is what we need to enforce this rule, because more and more children are dyeing their hair while on holiday and they think it is a right to have the same kind of thing while at school," he said.

Lavender Hill High School's principal, Farouk Manie, said his school was not unfamiliar with enforcing this policy.

Manie said he accepted that pupils have the right to colour their hair when on holiday or on weekends, but when this is allowed at school it often has a negative impact on pupils' state of mind and attitude.

"There seems to be a certain relaxed mood associated with dyeing hair. As tea?chers we worry that, if pupils get away with having any hair colour while at school, they will decide they are able to get away with other things such as bad behaviour or bunking.

"It may not seem to be such a big thing, but it is important to think about how permitting this will help us deal with bigger issues."

Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Gert Witbooi said principals have the right to take disciplinary action against pupils who do not adhere to their school's code of conduct, but added that according to the Constitution, "No child may be denied an education."

Witbooi encouraged principals to be consistent in strictly enforcing the rules of their code of conduct throughout the year so that parents are clear on matters pertaining to pupils' appearance in general.

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