In a gesture to celebrate International Women’s Day, the Ministry of Education relaxed its policies restricting expressive hairstyles for girls. This move was greatly appreciated by school girls who welcomed the opportunity to express their individuality and culture. The decision, however, served to highlight the long criticized policy of creating a blanket set of rules that outlines a very restrictive set of hairstyles that school girls are allowed to wear.
As western culture continues to be the primary influence on Guyana’s school dress code policy, many have argued that it does not cater to the reality of girls whose hair do not match the texture or type of the European girls that the inherited policies were designed to manage. This has led to needless stress and difficulty especially among Afro-Guyanese girls who argue that current policies ignore their reality and suppress their right to cultural expression.
“One day is not enough” is the call echoed across the nation as women rights groups call on the government to permanently end the unfair rules. The Ministry of Education said it has acknowledged these complaints and claims that it will look into changing its rules in the coming months. Whether that will materialize is yet to be seen.
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