As parents, my husband and I have never emphasized on the importance of looks, we hardly tell our daughters that they look beautiful because we don’t want to place too much focus on appearance that can lead to body confidence issues later in life.

We only praise them for the good deeds they have done and on how beautiful their heart can be rather than how gorgeous a dress would make them look.

As our eldest daughter embarks into her schooling life, primary one this year, like most excited mommies and daddies, my husband and I have kept ourselves equipped and ready to send her off to experience one of the most crucial phase of her life, like since a year ago.

We (my husband and I) patted each other on the back; proud that we ‘survived’ sending our firstborn to school and that we have done something purposeful in our lives.

Until I saw a sign outside of the school gate that got me all concerned over the values that we have instilled in our children.

Can the choice of hair colour really be a distraction or offensive to students that it affect their attention in class?
The sign at the entrance of the school boldly state the prohibitions and dress code of visitors that come to the school. Aside from the no skimpy clothes and no earrings for men, the thing that made me cringed the most would be the no brown hair or blond/blonde policy.

For a school like my daughter’s, in a small neighbourhood in the city, where racial composition is imbalanced and Malays being the racial majority, I can understand the move to prohibit indecent and skimpy dressing.

But I just can’t fathom the need to prohibit someone especially visitors for their choice in hair colour.

Why is there so much emphasis on the appearance of an ‘outsider’ or a visitor? Can the choice of hair colour really be a distraction or offensive to students that it affect their attention in class?

I have brown hair with blonde streaks; does this mean I am prohibited to get in the compound of the school? I guess not because I have been in and out of that school almost every other day. It seems that the school is not strict with their very own rules and regulations.

And if so, why have it in the first place? Why go all the way and put it on the board in front of the entrance for all visitors to see?

And what if I were to be born a Caucasian, a natural blonde? Can I claim that the school is racist for being anti-blonde?

As a tax-paying woman who has great expectations and hopes unto the education system of this country, not for anything, but only for the bright future of our children, like the rest of the parents, everywhere in the world, I would strongly suggest that all schools to carefully analyze the impact of conveying any message in any form at all, before conveying them, especially when it comes to messages that can easily be used as a product of segregation not just between races but humans as a whole.