The dreadlocks hairstyle ban at Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP) has been criticised as discriminatory by Minister of Education Ronald Jones.

"No child or student studying
can be excluded from a school as
a result of a hairstyle, particularly in a situation where they are kept in a clean and inoffensive manner. So I'm surprised that that would even arise. It would then be termed discriminatory circumstances,
but nothing has reached me here
in relation to that particular manner," Jones told the
DAILY NATION yesterday.

"These are not little children, this is a tertiary institution.
And even though we want persons to be decorous, to treat adults like children would be a no-no. Once the hairstyles are clean and conform
to generally accepted standards,
no young person should be left out of school . . . . Most of these things have to be handled sensitively otherwise they would come over as discriminatory," the minister added.

Backward

Director of the Commission of Pan-African Affairs, Ikael Tafari, who is a part of the Rastafari Movement, described the SJPP regulation as backward, discriminatory, ridiculous and a dangerous practice.

"It's a violation of a religion. People like me, Adonijah and
other Rastafari; 1 000 in the island, they are stopping people from getting skill training on dreadlocks
. . . . How are we going to really determine Rastafari? There are different beliefs . . . . You don't have to join an organisation to be
a Rastafari . . . . Barbados has
to get serious. We are
a multi-religious society. They
must stop discrimination."