Hairstyles that 'block the views of others' have been banned at the school
Students at a London school have staged a mass walk-out from classes and protested against their new uniform policy that they claim is "discriminatory and racist" as it will unfairly affect students with afros. The school has also brought in a rule banning colourful Hijabs.
In footage shared on Twitter, the students at Pimlico Academy in Westminster can be seen holding placards outside the school buildings and chanting "We want change".
https://twitter.com/adzinoo_/status/1377186808081997829
The protests and walkouts at the school come in the aftermath of
graffiti appearing over the weekend on a wall at the school, which read: "White schools for brown kids – are you mad?’, ‘Pimlico Academy…run by racists…for profit!!!’ and ‘Ain’t no black in the Union Jack…’
Students have also
set up a petition entitled Petition Against Pimlico Academy's Dress Code Changes For All Years which has already gathered over 1,200 signatures. The petition also calls for a whole raft of the uniform policy to be changed, rules such as no facial hair and girls not being allowed to wear "revealing clothes that show their shoulders".
It goes on to say: "We as students have the right to express ourselves however we choose, and also have the right to have our natural hair whether it be big hair, small hair or loads of facial hair or no facial hair.
"We should be able to show our shoulders without 'distracting the boys'. We should be able to wear jewellery as some can be sentimental.
"We should be able to wear any coloured Hijabs we want as it's part of a lot of people’s religion. We should be able to have a clothing option for people who don’t want to conform to a gender."
The school have argued that the uniform policies are intended to reflect a "professional environment", and that the rationale behind the rules regarding hair are "self-explanatory" and don't relate to "any specific hairstyle".
