Dear Minister Sonia Parag, I am writing as a frustrated parent to bring to your attention the issues some of our child/children have to go through at their school. I take my son to school and I pick him up when school is over. I work very hard every day to take care of him and his two other siblings, and they are my everything. My son attends Plaisance Secondary. He gets a haircut every two weeks. I do not cut his hair military style, nor do I give him any fancy haircut. When I went to school to pick up my son this afternoon he informed me that he was told today by a teacher at the school not to go to school tomorrow (June 19) if he doesn’t cut his hair lower than what it already is. I tried calling the HM and the teachers but the phones rang out. I had once called his class teacher a little after school hours and I was told not to disturb her after school hours, I apologized before I cut the call. Another child was recently taken out of that school by his mother and is now being sent to a private school because of the same issue. When his mother attempted to address the issue with the school she wasn’t even allowed in. That woman now has to work extra hours just to pay for a private school for her son because of the victimization some parents and children face. Minister, my son was injured at school by a door from the washroom sometime back, he lost his big toenail and had to be home for some time because of that injury. My son wasn’t taken to the nearest health facility, which is located right in Plaisance. Instead, the HM called and I went to the school and saw my child in pain and bleeding, not even a proper first aid kit was available to help with the bleeding. The teacher(s) that are busy sending home people’s children because of their hairstyle don’t see these issues to report them; instead, they are busy targeting certain people’s children. Further, Minister when our children are being bullied in school some of these teachers turn a blind eye to it, and the minute your child decides to fight back your child is WRONG. Some of these teachers are focusing on the wrong set of things, and the victimization is very real because like I said I take my son to school and pick him up, and they have other children with hair longer than my son’s in school, it is clear that only certain people’s children are being targeted.When you call their phones they don’t answer you. You have to book an appointment to go into school but that’s only possible if they answer their phones, and parents aren’t allowed to enter the school compound. I attended the very same school, and my parents never had the issues we are now facing as parents ourselves. Enough is enough. Please address this matter. Thank you! See the photo below of my child’s current hairstyle. Sincerely,Neermala Ramsaywack Ministry of Education – Guyana Hon. Sonia Parag, Minister of Education President Irfaan Ali Priya Manickchand
GRADE 7 STUDENT TOLD NOT TO RETURN TO SCHOOL IF HE DOESN’T CUT HIS HAIR SHORTER
