Collegiate matric dress uproar

An incident at Collegiate Girls’ High School where a matric pupil was banned from taking part in a fashion show because her cleavage allegedly made the principal’s husband “uncomfortable”, sparked a furore among parents and pupils, who protested outside the school on Friday.

Emotions ran high and the police were called to the scene as about 150 irate parents and pupils spoke out against what they called “body shaming” and the sexualisation of young girls. 

The parents said the incident had also brought up underlying issues of alleged racism and the marginalisation of pupils of colour.

The pupils who decided to protest showed up at the school wearing black T-shirts. They carried placards with the words “Enough is Enough” and “Hear our Cry”.

It has become a tradition at Collegiate for matric pupils to model their dresses at a fashion parade after the annual matric farewell dance.

An aggrieved 17-year-old pupil said principal Louise Erasmus had held a meeting with the grade 12 pupils on Monday before the fashion show and apparently informed them that some of their dresses were inappropriate.

“She told us some dresses were inappropriate and that her husband did not know where to look, and he was uncomfortable.

“We are minors. He had no right [allegedly] looking at our bodies like that.”

The girl said when she arrived at school to participate in the fashion show later that evening, a teacher had told her that her dress was inappropriate, and sent her to the principal’s office.

“I went to the office where Mrs Erasmus told me that my breasts are awkward and that it is inappropriate for elders and young boys to look at my body like this.”

Another pupil was also allegedly told beforehand that her dress was inappropriate.

“This is discrimination and sexualisation of my body.

“We are angry and have decided to take a stand against body shaming,” the girl said, adding that she felt humiliated.

Her father said she had phoned him in tears on Monday evening at about 7pm and asked him to pick her up.

When he heard what had allegedly happened, he arranged a meeting with Erasmus and told her he was not happy with the way the situation had been managed.

“I asked them why they did not give us any specification, seeing that they said my daughter’s dress was inappropriate. This should have been given to us before we went to buy dresses or have them made.

“What is appropriate or inappropriate differs from person to person. From where I am standing, there was nothing wrong with that dress. She was appropriately covered.

“I told the principal that she had dented my daughter’s confidence,” the father said.

While both father and daughter agreed to being named, Weekend Post decided to protect their identities for fear of bullying.

Another parent of a grade 12 pupil, Dr Pinky Ngcakani-Ncula, said the incident was not supposed to be a race issue, but rather about a girl who felt violated for wanting to be comfortable in her own skin.

“We are standing together to protect the rights of girls, in a girls’ school. We should be united as a school when there is a societal crisis.

“We are standing up now as black mothers and fathers because our daughters are not getting treated the way they deserve to be treated in a school of this calibre,” she said.

Early on Friday morning, after the girls made their concerns heard near the school’s drop-off gate, they were locked out and prohibited from going to their classrooms.

Officials from the education department, the pupils and selected parent representatives then convened a meeting in the school hall.

They were locked in talks for about two hours.

According to several parents in the meeting, it was apparently agreed that Erasmus would apologise to the pupils on Monday, but that parents needed to see the contents of the apology letter before she did so.

At the time of going to print, provincial education department spokesperson, Mali Mtima, could not be reached for comment. Earlier in the day, he noted the Weekend Post query.

Erasmus did not return a call for comment after a detailed message was left with her secretary earlier in the day.

The media was also not allowed access into the school to personally approach Erasmus for comment.  

Detailed questions were also sent to Erasmus via WhatsApp, outlining the allegations. And while the message was delivered and read, she did not respond.

Touching on the issue of racism, some parents said there were definite discrepancies in the manner in which pupils of colour were treated, compared with their peers.

One father, Erico Tiso, mentioned an incident in which he had been summoned to the school when certain pupils, including his daughter, disagreed with a teacher about the Black Lives Matter campaign.

According to Tiso, the teacher went into a classroom where pupils were discussing the topic and apparently told them that the Black Lives Matter campaign had nothing to do with them.

“My daughter and others told the teacher that even though it did not matter to her, black lives mattered to them.”

HeraldLIVE