Schoolchildren may soon be allowed to wear beards if the proposed national guidelines on school uniforms are introduced later this year, Parliament was told on Tuesday.
”A uniform may not impede or infringe upon any constitutional right,” said Cassius Lubisi, deputy director for education and training in the Department of Education.
He was presenting the guidelines to the portfolio committee on education.
The document, drafted by the school-uniform policy division within the department, was hotly debated as the correlation between uniforms and a child’s freedom of religious expression was questioned.
Democratic Alliance MP George Boinamo argued that uniforms and religious identity should be kept separate.
”We cannot allow religious identity to become part of uniforms, otherwise Rastafarians [may as well] come to school wearing long hair and smoking dagga. School uniform is one thing, religious expression is another,” he said.
The beard debate was raised by African National Congress MP Ismail Vadi, who asked if the policy will permit Muslim boys to wear beards to school, as many want to.
He said that the document allows for yarmulkes and head scarves, and should surely also cater for beards.
Lubisi said that as the draft currently stands, his reasoning is accurate, but DA MP Helen Zille called for a separate debate on religious expression, stating it is too complex to be dealt with under the uniform discussion.
She said the topic of uniforms should be confined to what a child wears.
The department released the document for public comment on March 22, following its investigation into the viability of uniforms and ways of reducing their cost.
The department stated that in exercising their choice of uniforms, schools must ensure that individual or collective access to education of pupils enrolled at the schools or those seeking enrolment to the school is not impeded in anyway.
It added that the cost of the uniform should not be an unaffordable financial burden to parents.
The guidelines also prohibit the practice of schools using only one supplier to provide the uniforms.
”There is no proof whatsoever that a single supplier reduces the price. This should be discouraged,” Lubisi said.
It was also suggested that schools adopt a more ”innovative” and colourful approach to the choice of uniforms, one that is not so ”monotonous”.
”They can choose to be flowery — within limits obviously,” Lubisi said, stating that changing demographics and cultures of schools should be reflected in their uniforms.
Certain committee members hoped the guidelines will force schools with long-standing traditions borne out of a ”colonial” past to review their traditions and customs in favour of a new South African perspective.
”Madiba-style shirts may be an options,” suggested the committee chairperson, Malusi Mayatula. — Sapa