Shame On You: Colombo International School 

By Chamindra Weerawardhana –OCTOBER 4, 2018

Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana

The Colombo International School and its Acting Principal have been practicing daylight discrimination against a pupil in the most shameless and despicable way. The pupil’s fault? Wanting to include a rainbow flag in a fashion show outfit. When the Acting Principal, a cis white British woman, did not give permission, the child complied, and instead found more creative ways of including the rainbow flag in her routine, by covering her school bag in a rainbow flag. The Acting Principal, Sarah Philipps, then ruthlessly imposed punishments on the child, with “five negative marks and a subsequent detention, plus exclusion from attendance and participation in all extra-curricular activities including School Anniversary events and fashion show.”

This is an extremely despicable situation, in a school founded by the veteran educator Elizabeth Moir. 

The letter sent to the pupil’s parents by the Acting Principal is problematic on a number of fronts. 

Uniform Policy: Tom Brown’s Schooldays are long gone, Dear Sarah!

Firstly, Sarah Philipps states that the pupil in question has been wearing trousers for school “although it was pointed out to her that this was not the school uniform applicable to girls”. The Acting Principal seems to be visibly disturbed by a pupil breaking, if not going against the colonially imposed gender binary in school uniforms. In the Acting Principal’s own country, the United Kingdom, schools and education authorities are increasingly developing policies for the inclusion of children within the LGBT+ spectrum, altering strict uniform policies of yesteryear, and in an effort to make schools friendly, protective and caring places for LGBT+ children. 

Letter of Shame sent by Sarah Philipps, Acting Principal at Colombo International School, to the pupil’s parents. Image: Colombo Telegraph

This Acting Principal, however, seems to be completely oblivious to such crucial developments in the enhancement of fundamental rights in education. How come this British woman was clueless about documentation produced in the UK such as the Stonewall guide “An Introduction to supporting LGBT young people: A Guide for Schools”, is an important question. 

Several private citizens and LGBT+ rights-focused social media campaigns were highly critical of the Acting Principal. 

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