Protests erupted outside a girls’ school in South Africa after the institution reportedly instructed black students to straighten their hair.

Students at Pretoria Girls High in Pretoria, South Africa took to the streets on Monday, singing and demonstrating as they called for a change to the school’s apparent hair policy.

The protests came after reports that black students were told at the school to straighten their hair on several occasions.

#StopRacismatPretoriaGirlsHigh began trending on social media as people expressed outrage over the matter. Parents at the school also said that black students have complained that they were not allowed to speak African languages at the school.
 

 

#unappologeticblack #stopracismpretoriagirlshigh

A video posted by Mosidi Promise Mosikare (@mosidim1) on

Nathi Mtethwa, South Africa’s Arts and Culture minister, tweeted his support for the students.

“We support the stance of Pretoria Girls High students to protect their right to have natural hair,” Mtethwat tweeted.

Lebo Madiba Lokotwayo, a legal guardian of a child who attends Pretoria High School for Girls took to Facebook to express her thoughts on the matter, saying the issue at the school is not just about hair.

“It is just plain racism,” Lokotwayo wrote on Monday.

Lokotwayo and others also expressed their support online for one of the young students, identified in media reports and on social media as 13-year-old Zulaikha Patel. The Grade 8 student was reportedly singled out in class over her curly hair.

“The girl with the uncontrollable hair gave a speech in class about employment in South Africa,” Lokotwayo wrote. “She gave a comparison of the politics of employment pre and post apartheid, She highlighted the ills of apartheid and the role of trade unions. Her speech was interrupted, she was taken to the headmaster's office and was threatened with suspension.

“When her parents fought the suspension, they used the school's hair regulations against her,” Lokotwayo wrote, adding “She represents everything that is beautiful about this country. #SheIsHerHair.”

Lokotwayo said in her post that the issues “go deeper than hair.

“They are structural and whether we like it or not they are remnants of apartheid.”