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Ashburton Intermediate School has dropped a rule requiring students to get a uniform pass to wear a pounamu at school.
The school rule was criticised online over the weekend, with reports of students needing a pass to wear a pounamu, and needing to present the pass whenever it was requested.
Principal Brent Gray said the school had been made aware that part of the uniform pass system was culturally inappropriate.
He said students would no longer need passes to wear any pounamu or taonga.
"We are grateful to those who have raised the issues around the pass and will rectify immediately any seeking of passes to wear a taonga /pounamu."
Gray said students will no longer need passes to wear any pounamu or taonga.
"We are grateful to those who have raised the issues around the pass and will rectify immediately any seeking of passes to wear a taonga /pounamu."
He said the system had been in place well before he started at Ashburton Intermediate, and he was not aware of anyone being declined the right to wear a pounamu.
The board was going to review the uniform code to ensure that incidents of this nature did not occur in the future, he said.
The sort of items generally covered by the uniform pass might include a student not having the correct socks or wearing a bangle that might have been given at birth, he said.
Gray said he was not aware of any previous complaints about the uniform pass system.
"We have issued a response and apology to our school and Māori community and deeply regret any offence we have caused, and apologise to all whānau hapū iwi as it was not our intention to cause any grief," Gray said.
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