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South African minister supports racism protest by female students
A South African minister has thrown his support behind protesting female students, who accuse their high school of operating a racist hair policy.
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Black pupils at the private Pretoria Girls High say they have often been told to straighten their hair, reports the BBC.
"Schools should not be used as a platform to discourage students from embracing their African identity," Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa tweeted in support.
The school's code of conduct has a detailed list of rules about hair, but does not specifically mention the afro hairstyle, which some pupils say they are banned from having.
The minister also criticised the school over student complaints that they had been warned not to speak to each other in their own languages.
"It is unacceptable to ban students from speaking their African languages at school", he wrote on Twitter.
"This is about our identity as black people. We're tired of being told to be less than what we are so we can fit in," one of the protesters said.
The reports of alleged racism at the school have resonated across the country.
South Africans, particularly young black South Africans, have been using social media in recent months to raise questions about beauty, cultural tolerance and racism.
They have been challenging what they describe as colonial standards that should have been dismantled years ago.
At the heart of these protests are the high school's black students who feel like their identity, which is wrapped up in the curly strands of their hair, is deemed as inferior.
