Tobago schools creating new hair policy

‘Unfortunate”.

This is how THA Secretary of Education, Research and Technology Zorisha Hackett described the incident at Trinity College in which students wearing afros and cane-row hairstyles were not allowed to graduate with their peers that led to the National School Hair Code policy. The national school hair code is to come into effect for the new academic term, 2023/2024.

Hackett was responding to questions from members of the media on the new national hair code which the Ministry of Education intends to implement in the new academic year starting in September.

“I was a part of that conversation with the honourable minister of education. It has been one of the areas in my own personal purview we had to treat with, and I mean that it’s unfortunate that we had to take that Trinity graduation scenario to bring it to the fore.”

She said valuable contributions were made at that meeting, which was attended by the division’s technical advisor Ann Natasha Second along with school supervisor III Mrs SherryAnn Rollocks-Hackett.

‘We indicated that we want our schools – through PTA, through student council, through staff to actually sit and break down exactly what they wanted to do in their actual school setting while following this national policy. We also wanted to put the rights of the child to an education at the fore and the fact that we should not be discriminating in a time like this. There were some areas that I found that if we didn’t give clear guidance, we could have some chaos and we made that point clear.”