Cape Town – The Gauteng Department of Education has reportedly closed down the Crowthorne Christian Academy in Midrand after discovering that the school was operating illegally.
The school gained attention when it refused entry to a 13-year-old student due to her dreadlocks, which violated the school’s hair policy.
According to The Citizen, the education department attempted to assist the school in complying with regulations and offered guidance on democratic values, human rights, and education principles.
However, the school management locked the gates and closed the school when officials visited, despite previous entry being granted.
The department has decided to shut down the school and relocate affected students to alternative schools.
“We are prepared to place all affected learners of the school to alternative schools as we believe Crowthorne Christian Academy is not an institution that can effectively educate our children,” EWN quoted the Gauteng Deartment of Education spokesperson Xolani Mkhwemte as saying.
ALSO READ | School bars student over her natural dreadlocks
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed on Thursday that Andries Hendrik Booysen, a 51-year-old man, had been arrested for forcefully pulling the hair of the grade 8 student.
Booysen appeared in the Midrand Magistrate’s Court and is confronting two charges of assault.
His arrest followed the circulation of a widely-shared video depicting the forceful removal of the Crowthorne Christian Academy teenager from the classroom due to her dreadlocks.
Subsequently, Booysen was released on R2 000 bail.
According to Times Live, the student’s mother said that her daughter had initially attended school with natural hair tied in a bun, but after a change in the school’s policy, she decided to reinstall her natural dreadlocks, which she had grown from a young age.
“My daughter used to go to school with her natural Afro tied in a bun and she’d sometimes do braids or I would plait her natural hair.
“But since the rules changed, I decided to reinstall her natural dreadlocks which I had kept from when she had dreadlocks as a child. This was during the school holidays, and I noticed her afro was getting damaged because she could no longer do braids so I installed her dreadlocks,” the report quoted the mother as saying.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
