Member

This is a problem that we must tackle, and the EHRC has tried to tackle it. I tried to think how I could write an amendment that would do a better job than the EHRC to tackle this issue, given that it has failed. I thought, “I don’t think I know how to do this”, but it is clearly a continuing issue. Then I thought more broadly about the issue of hair, not just children with Afro hair. We look at cases such as that of 10 year-old Evie, who was excluded in September last year from Kincraig Primary School in Blackpool because she had had her hair died in a split style: one side was a different colour from the other. Apparently it was off-putting and disturbing to other pupils, and that was why she was not allowed to come to school with this hair colour. We go to the case of Strood Academy in Kent. A 15 year-old boy had his hair cut very short to help control his eczema; he also had a skin fade. He wore it at school for four days and then he was placed in the behavioural unit because of his haircut and because of his skin fade. He got a doctor’s letter and finally, on 30 September, apparently the hair had grown out enough and he was allowed back into class.