School faulted for expelling Rastas
Rastafarians have received backing from the office of the Ombudsman in the South over the issue of dreadlocked pupils.
In September 2012, education authorities at Makapwa Primary School in Thyolo expelled three learners of Rastafarian faith, arguing school rules and regulations do not allow dreadlocks.
Speaking at a sensitisation meeting for agriculture, police and education administrators, regional officer Paul Njola said the directive was illegal as it lacked constitutional backing.
He said the Rastas community has every reason to sue authorities at the Ministry of Education for violating their children’s rights by directing the pupils to shave.
Njola said Section 4 (33) of the Constitution of Malawi guarantees every person the right to freedom of conscience, religion, belief, thought and academic freedom.
“Based on the right to freedom of religion, authorities at the Ministry of Education violated the rights of the Rastafarians. We need to appreciate that the Constitution doesn’t give teachers powers to come up with dressing codes for learners, but merely to teach.
“I, therefore, urge authorities to restrict their powers to teaching and not coming up with dressing codes that are in conflict with the law,” he said.
Miriam, George and Fadweck (then in Standards Eight, Six and Three respectively) at the time of their expulsion are children of Ras James Dinesi.
Mr Njola you are a very interesting individual. It is true that the constitution of the Republic of Malawi guarantees freedoms to everyone irrespective of their religion or status in society but one thing you should know is that freedoms have responsibilities. It is the responsibility of the people who are taking care of children to bring up children in an environment where they will feel safe. Looking at the cultural values of Malawi not many Malawians will be comfortable to sit in class with a dreadlocked person because to them that person is a Chamba smoker eventhough this may just be stereotyping. It is therefore the responsibility of teachers to make the students/learners come to school in a way that will not make other learners stereotype against them. Your statement that teacher’s powers should be restricted to “teaching and not coming up with dressing codes that are in conflict with the law” is disgusting and a sign of the greatest amount of stupidity a person from a high office like yours can show. Your statement makes me wonder if you have ever been in school yourself or the kind of schooling you have attended was homeschooling or correspondence school where you had no teachers present. If you have ever been to school you would understand that a teacher’s duty is not just teaching but also making sure that teachers help in moulding the life of students who are the future of this nation into responsible citizens. It is out of their parental duties that teachers have to make it a point that the dressing of student is uniform and no student becomes a distraction to learning for other students (mind you Mr Njola, if other students are distracted by the dressing of their classmates, then the right to education of those being distracted is violated). The kind of rulings or statements you are making mister will do scholls nothing but turning them into places of chaos and I would not be suprised to hear that learners are coming to school in underwear to exercise their freedom of dressing. Shame on you Mr. Njala! Shame on the office of the Ombudsman! Long live teachers who instill discipline in learners dispite working in environments that are not fit to be schools but still more they teach with joy!