The principal of Dellwood Middle School has lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission after the school was accused of practising racism by an Island businessman.

Dellwood Middle School principal Janette Musson said two staff members had gone to Bermuda Rentals and were denied a discount afforded to other schools because, the owner said the school practised racism by offering the ?ASHAY: Rites of Passage? programme to students.

Ms Musson said she was very upset by the incident and has since invited the owner of Bermuda Rentals, Douglas Howe, to visit the school and attend an ASHAY class.

Ms Musson said they hoped to clarify Mr. Howes understanding ? and that of others ? of the ?Seven principles of blackness? in the ASHAY programme, with which she felt Mr. Howes had taken issue and assumed prevented white children from attending Dellwood.

?This is not the case,? Ms. Musson said. ?The ASHAY programme is a pilot programme launched in January last year which exposes all children, black and white, to the rich historical and cultural lessons of Africa that led to the development of universal values which students are taught should be guideposts for living.?

She said there may be some in Bermuda who see the study of African history and culture as inappropriate for their children, and this is indeed regrettable.

?As we all know, black children have been learning about European history in school for some time now, so why would learning African History be seen as racist?? she asked.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Howe said he felt the ASHAY Programme had everything to do with religion and nothing to do with history.

As a Christian, he is offended by it, he added.

?Why are we embracing an African values curriculum, when we?re a British colony? ? he asked.

He said he had read through the ASHAY printed material and found it highly offensive as children were not been given a balanced view.

?I?m glad they?ve lodged a complaint. It?s about time! ? he said.

He said he would be happy to attend one of the classes as soon as Dellwood invited him and was pleased that members from CURE and the Human Rights Commission would also be attending.

?This is going to be very good. They can view it for what it really is,? he said.

On the point of why he denied the school discount, Mr. Howe said it was his choice to extend a discount to whom he wanted.

He said he had asked them if they embraced the ?seven principles of blackness? and believed in one principle ? co-operative economics, which according to the ASHAY programme means ?to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together (share the money)?.

On this basis, he denied them the discount because, he said. ?I?m not black and don?t support these principles,? he said.attended one class when the ASHAY programme was first launched early last year and reporter, Robin Bardgett said she found the class informative and interesting.

?I went to school in this country and found that our history lacked the black historical perspective that Ashay offers,? she said.The Human Rights Commission could not be reached for comment yesterday, but the Coalition for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE)?s executive officer, Myra Virgil said the organisation would be attending the ASHAY programme out of interest, but would not be taking the complaint from Ms Musson against Mr. Howe any further as it was an issue for Human Rights, not CURE.