By Stephen Wilson
 |
| Can students have dyed hair? |
"I understood
that the rules governing our gymnasium are strict, but
not that strict,"
- lamented a 15-year-old school girl from Perm, Zinaida
Agisheva who was
abruptly summoned to the director where
she was disciplined
for having an 'inappropriate color of hair'.
The incident occurred
on September 7 when the school girl was
stopped at the entrance
of the school and taken to the cabinet of
the headmistress.
Zinaida was informed that she was being excluded
from lessons in
connection with violating the school's strict rules
governing physical
appearance and clothes, one which forbids dyeing
your hair a particular
color. However, Zinaida and her mother were
baffled by the logic
or rather, lack of logic behind the rules. Why is
it acceptable to have
black or white hair, but not pink? And does
it really matter? One of the rules states 'an extravagant hair style
is not allowed'. But
who on earth defines what an extravagant hair
style is? No clear
explanation was forthcoming!
Rules concerning the
appearance and dress code of school pupils
widely vary throughout
Russia. This is because it is left largely to
the discretion of the
headmaster or headmistress of the school. In
some schools, teachers
are largely indifferent to what students
wear while some simply
shoot frowns of disapproval at girls who
turn up with an
unconventional hair style. For instance, former
school student Anna
Wilson told me, "When I went to the first
school number 1289,
they applied very strict rules where you could
be expelled for
violating the code. But at the second school number
1575 in Moscow, a
teacher simply frowned at me for having permed
hair." But
most Russian teachers are just too busy to worry about
the appearance of
their pupils and many even don't try to enforce
a dress code. In
general, pupils are expected to wear a white shirt
and black trousers or
black skirt. Mini skirts, strong make up and
dyed hair tends to be
taboo or at least disapproved.
Zinaida has received
support from the local movement for the
Rights of Children
whose spokesman stated that the school's rules
contradict the law on education where there exists no law about
what color a pupil's
hair must be. In addition, Victor Panin, who is
the
chairman of the Society for the Defense of Users of
Education, states:
"This event in Perm is no exception. In Saint
Petersburg children
have been excluded from lessons for their
color of hair. I
consider that such demands by the school administration
in view of their
upbringing to be excessive. According to the law, all
children have the
right to education. Any person has the right to
self expression. ....
Forbidding this won't solve the problem. Youth
will react to any such
taboo in a very aggressive way and resort to
wider protest.
Dictating how a person looks - this is not a topic for
schools. Schools must
teach! I have been in many schools in France
and Finland. There
they had enough freedom to wear what they choose
and what hair style
they can adopt. The main point was that the child
studied in school".
Strange at it seems,
this scandal which received a lot of attention
because the story was
circulated on social networks, comes at a
time when yet another
course is to be introduced into schools:
Human Rights . You can
study this course at school if you manage
to dye your hair in
the right color. If you can, and the course is
taught correctly, you
'll learn that everyone has the right to free
expression as well as
the right to education under article 43. The
only predicament
for pink haired pupils is how to win the right to
free education so they
can attend this course to hear about their
right to free
education! If you don't understand the school rules
on appearance, then
don't worry! Many adults and politicians
don't understand their
own Russian Constitution and laws on
education.
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