Chatsworth viral hairstyle video: KZN education says parents must enforce school code of conduct

A VIRAL video showing pupils standing outside a Chatsworth school due to 'unacceptable' hairstyles has prompted the KZN Department of Education to call for greater parental involvement in school discipline.

Education experts and officials warn that parents who defend rule-breaking behaviour are setting their children up for future failure.

The video showed about 25 male pupils standing outside the school, with hairstyles that were not in line with the school’s code of conduct.

Muzi Mahlambi, spokesperson for the KZN Department of Education, said they condemned pupils who reversed the “good gains” that schools had achieved.

“We call upon schools to enforce the code of conduct. We further call upon the parents to impress upon their children the importance of concentrating on their studies and nothing else. 

“We urge the grade 12 pupils to assist by providing peer leadership in this regard because any disturbance in the school day would affect them,” Mahlambi said.

A retired principal, Mr S Pillay, said there was a lack of discipline in many homes that impacted negatively on the schooling system. 

“Teachers do not get sufficient support from departmental officials in curbing this type of misbehaviour. More severe forms of punishment need to be implemented in severe cases of misconduct.

“Pupils breaking the code of conduct and taking away teaching time due to disciplinary issues impacts negatively on the teaching and learning at school. There are different levels of misconduct that schools deal with on a regular basis, such as improper hairstyles, late coming, frequent absenteeism, bullying, violence, drugs abuse, gambling and assaults.

“Bunking, incomplete homework, poor performance and not adhering to uniform requirements all take away teaching time,” he said.

Pillay said if misconduct was not remedied, poor characteristics would continue in these pupils in adult lives.

“Many parents who are called to school defend their children rather than seek solutions to the problem. This gives the child the impression that his /her parents would always be there to support their misbehavior. 

“Parents who come to school with a positive attitude to assist their child would always achieve the desired result. The attitude of both parents and children needs to change towards the school and teachers,” he said.

“The school must be seen as an institution where parents work together with teachers to achieve the desired aims and objectives for the pupil,” Pillay added.

Dr Erna de Lange, chairperson of the KZN School Governing Body Foundation said parents were a major contributor to pupils' disciplinary issues at schools.

She said parents wanted to be the “friend or hero” rather than the parent who ensured that children followed the rules.

“We found that more and more parents are siding with the child when it comes to disciplinary issues. They believe that the child is always right and the school is wrong. There is a mentality where parents accuse the school of not understanding that the child is sensitive, or that the school picks on their child who are the epitome of compliance at home, so the school must get its act together. 

“The child knows he/she is covered at all times and can be as arrogant as they wish. These are the ones who will do a sob story at home about hair and the parents agree that it is their right to choose their hairstyles,” she said.

“These children are in trouble going forward, thanks to parents who want to be the child's hero and not a parent. They are the same children who resign when the boss is not impressed with their performance at work, because there have never been consequences,” she added.

De  Lange said children were living in a world that their parents created, and not in the real world.

She said what was allowed at home often impacted teaching and learning. 

“Parents create castles in the sky, and teachers do not teach there. Discipline should be differently handled. When I was principal, I sat down with parents, often individually, and we decided why they brought their children to school. 

“If children did not behave in the way we agreed on, parents agreed that they would fetch the child from school and address the problem at home and as soon as the child is ready to learn, we would love to have him back.

“It worked in most cases because the parents had to face the reality that their poorly socialised child is not going to disrupt teaching and learning. The parents worked with us because it was disruptive to them, as they had to leave work and attend to their child.

“But once we were all on the same page, school ran smoothly. Very few parents were not impressed and took their children out of the school. 

“Parents drop their children at school and wash their hands in glee that they are giving their children a good education. But it is up to the school to deal with brats that are a law unto themselves. 

“The system of dealing with discipline in schools is not working. Getting a delinquent expelled involves so many warnings and so much paperwork, that in most cases it is not worth the effort.

“The stress on teachers to meet the curriculum outcomes and deal with undisciplined pupils is a combination for burnout. Parents who are not supporting the school and their children are the ones ruining their child's future very successfully.  They are creating a future generation and a country that will go nowhere fast,” De Lange said.

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