Schoolboy could be expelled for not cutting his hair, as he slams 'disrespectful' treatment
17 May 2024, 08:09 | Updated: 17 May 2024, 08:20
A schoolboy could be thrown out of his school for not cutting his hair.
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Farouk James 12, is having an argument with his school in London because it says his long hair does not fit their uniform rules.
Farouk said that his hair is braided neatly for school - but his school said they will kick him out if he doesn't get it cut.
The child model, who has 250,000 Instagram followers, has already been given several detentions for his long locks.
Farouk said this was disrespectful. “In black British culture, black boys have braids,” he told First News.
Punishments from his school began in late April, his mother Bonnie said.
She added: "Today is the first official day that Farouk James is to be punished for having long hair. His request for an exemption based upon cultural and medical grounds have been refused.
"This situation is devastating for us as we have been made aware the road will lead to permanent expulsion if his hair is now not cut."
Explaining the story behind Farouk's long hair in a previous interview, Bonnie said: "His father's from Ghana so culturally, his family told me not to cut it until he was three," Bonnie told Little Things.
"Well, that was part of the cultural thing, so I agreed to not cut his hair until he's three. But obviously we didn't expect it would grow as much as it did and it just kept on growing."
Photographer Bonnie added: "Parents have shown me they have had to chop their child's hair off, and the devastation it has caused,' she explained.
"It's a part of their identity. You are asking someone to take away a huge part of themselves, to fit in to what is socially expected."
