 students in Ghana to keep long hair on campus, emphasizing that such practices contradict the principles of discipline and character formation that schools are meant to uphold.){kind=link}
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has firmly ruled out any possibility of allowing senior high school (SHS) students in Ghana to keep long hair on campus, emphasizing that such practices contradict the principles of discipline and character formation that schools are meant to uphold.
Speaking at the 75th anniversary celebration of Mawuli Senior High School in the Volta Region, the Minister said the education authorities “will not tolerate” long hair in secondary schools “today or tomorrow.”
“There is an ongoing debate about haircuts, and size and length of hair in secondary schools,” Hon. Haruna Iddrisu said.
“We will not tolerate it today or tomorrow, in so long as we are molding character. If we give in to hair today, tomorrow it will be shoes, and the next day it will be the way they dress.”
He added that the secondary school environment “is not a place for a beauty contest,” urging headmasters and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to maintain discipline and order in their institutions.
“Headmasters and GES, you are accordingly empowered to take full control of how students behave on your campuses,” the Minister stressed.
The Minister’s remarks come in the wake of a viral social media video that reignited the public debate on hair rules in SHSs. The video showed a female first-year student of Yaa Asantewaa Senior High School in Kumasi, visibly distressed, as her long natural hair was being cut at a barbering salon ahead of her admission.
The girl’s mother had taken her to the barber shop to comply with school regulations, but the barber filmed and posted the haircut on social media without parental consent. The girl’s father has since confronted the barber and threatened legal action over the unauthorized recording.
The video has sparked intense debate on social media, radio, and television, with some Ghanaians calling for a review of SHS grooming policies, while others argue that the rules are essential for maintaining uniformity and discipline.
This is not the first time the issue of hair in schools has made national headlines. In 2021, the Achimota School faced widespread criticism and public debate after refusing admission to two first-year students with Rastafarian hair, a case that later ended up in court.
However, Minister Haruna Iddrisu maintains that the government’s stance remains unchanged.
“The school environment is not cut for that purpose, and we will not tolerate it as an institution,” he reiterated.