George Stark School Head generates debate over hai...

George Stark School Head generates debate over haircuts

Zim Now Writer

Social media was abuzz yesterday following the video of George Stark High School head who was filmed with a pair of scissors trimming the hair of learners who reported for the new term on Monday with inappropriate haircuts.

George Stark High School is in Mbare, Harare Metropolitan Province.

Mupavaenda’s video generated a lot of comments with many people, including government officials and prominent activists, expressing their personal views.

“We discovered that the calibre of learners at George Stark have a tendency of coming to school unprepared in the sense that as you have just seen, there are some who still have stylish hair, some have tints and all sorts of hairstyles which do not promote good learning at a learning environment.

“So that being the case, I decided not to send them back home because they will loiter until it’s time to go home.” he said.

Social media users, however commented on the video and were divided on whether the headmaster’s conduct was appropriate or not with some saying it was good in ensuring discipline among learners while others said haircuts were not important in the learning process.

A twitter user, @Ham2Hamandishe, saluted the headmaster saying: “Thumbs up Mr Headmaster. (For) Restoring pride, dignity and order in the learning fraternity.”

@Sonny_Homu, said: “Rules are there to be followed. The parents know the rules and so do the students. You either toe the line or face the music. Well done for implementing what we already know.”

Other social media users such as @Taku03 added that learners and parents should be prepared to follow set rules or take their children to alternative schools.

There were others, however, such as @Melotlover1996 were against the headmaster’s action, saying it was abusive.

“I am failing to grasp the correlation between a hairstyle, discipline and educational outcomes. “This is just an archaic, and colonial mind-set. It’s abuse. Period,” said @Melotlover1996.

Comfort Dondo said: “This is not discipline, it is pure abuse! We should never tolerate this in 2023. We talk to our children in love and teach them well.”

Director of Communications and Advocacy in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Taungana Ndoro said the Education Act was clear that every school should have a code of conduct aligned to the Bill of Rights, which should be agreed upon and discussed by the parents, school authorities and the pupils themselves.

“There should be a lot of transparency and integrity in terms of dealing with any acts of misconduct,” said Ndoro, adding that the Ministry had dispatched the Harare Province Education office to carry out investigations at George Stark High School to check if all modalities in implementing the code of conduct were followed.