“MUM and dad, can you believe it — our principal has pink hair.”
This could well have been the greeting excited Merchiston Preparatory School boys used when their parents picked them up from school yesterday.
Merchiston principal Dave Beetar will keep his pink hair for the month of October.
So how did a boys’ school principal end up with pink hair?
A parent at the school, Sharon Archibald from Hilton, said while she was having a haircut at Blu Gel Hair Salon, she was told about the pink Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) drive that the salon wanted to participate in.
“This involved a prominent member of the community having their hair sprayed or dyed pink, and then their colleagues or the community having to contribute to the Cansa drive for him or her to stay pink,” said Archibald.
She gave an undertaking that she would approach Beetar as her boys attend Merchiston Preparatory School.
So yesterday, Beetar had his hair dyed pink — much to the amusement of the schoolboys, who could not help but laugh at the sight of their headmaster’s new look.
A long-standing staff member joked: “I think this is an improvement on the principal’s [normal] hair”.
Beetar, who entered into the spirit of the challenge with a great sense of fun, just chuckled at this.
A Grade 3 pupil, Connor Vahey, said he thought it was a good idea.
“I think that it is funny to have the headmaster with a pink hairstyle. I think this is also good to happen at a boys’ school, because we will learn a lot from it and I will challenge my dad to also dye his hair pink,” said Connor.
Dreyer Borma, another Grade 3 pupil said: “I think this is an important idea because our sisters, mothers and grandmothers suffer from breast cancer.”
He said since they were all boys, it was important for them to understand more about cancer at an early stage.
The Merchiston family challenged other local principals to follow on Beetar’s lead.
“This is obviously to create awareness during the cancer month and also to raise funds that will be donated to Cansa,” said Beetar.
Completely comfortable with his new look, Beetar carried on with his normal duties for the day. He said various different activities will be conducted at the school to raise awareness and the proceeds will be donated to Cansa.
