RUNDU - The Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) says schools should not bar learners from attending classes because of their hairstyles. 
“Nanso further calls on all schools across Namibia to adhere to the call by the ministry of education that no learner be sent home as a result of their hairstyle. Nanso calls on all learners to remain calm as we await on the guidelines from the Office of the Attorney General that will regulate this situation in both state and private schools,” Nanso spokesperson Dylan Mukoroli said in a statement. 

Mukoroli noted that in ensuring the physical wellbeing and appropriate appearance of learners, Nanso welcomes the preliminary set out regulations by some schools pertaining to the hairstyles of learners. 
“We call on learners to abide by the rules to ensure they look presentable and neat,” he said. Not so long ago in the wake of some complaints through Nanso, education ministry executive director Sanet Steenkamp ordered schools to stop the forceful and unlawful cutting of learners’ hair along with the subjective banishment of pupils from school for refusal to cut their hair. 

“In preparation of appropriate guidelines to schools, legal opinion has been requested from the Office of the Attorney General. In the interim, schools are advised and encouraged to stop this practice until new guidelines are issued,” Steenkamp recently responded in a letter sent to education directors countrywide. 
“Attention is drawn to the Constitution, Articles 8 and 10 that this type of action can be construed as discriminatory and a violation of the human rights of learners.”