Low hair cuts in schools, an anachronistic requirement or a necessary tool in character formation

The debate about allowing high-school female students to keep long hair has re-emerged in Ghana. The immediate catalyst was a viral video of a first-year student, visibly distressed, having her long hair shaved prior to enrolment in a senior high school. Two prominent voices now dominate the discourse: on one side, human-rights activists and policy analysts question whether a rule demanding low cuts is anachronistic, culture-suppressive, and irrelevant to the substantive outcomes of schooling. On the other side, the Haruna Iddrisu-led Ministry of Education insists that the policy must be upheld, arguing that schools are for character formation, not beauty contests, and that uniform grooming promotes discipline, equity, and institutional order. Drawing on recent commentary, this article carefully examines both positions as well as the policy rationale that underpins the long-standing policy, arguing that the policy need not be disturbed to appease latter-day commentators.

Introduction

In the sweltering heat of a Ghanaian September, as the academic year beckons with its promise of new beginnings, one video clip shattered the country’s household calm of educational discourse. The said video was shared across a sea of social media platforms, capturing a moment of raw vulnerability: a young girl, on the verge of entering Senior High School (SHS), seated on a weathered plastic chair outside the gates of one of Ghana’s most popular and well-grounded Senior High Schools, Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Senior High School, in Kumasi. In the video, a stream of tears was seen rushing down the cheeks of the clearly saddened girl while a barber’s clippers danced melodiously through her cherished hair, shearing away her meticulously braided locks. From her expression, one could not help but observe that each snip echoed like a verdict on the young girl’s individuality. The video, which amassed millions of views within a few days, was not just a personal tragedy but a national flashpoint, reigniting a decades-old debate on the mandatory low-cut hair policy for both male and female students in Ghana’s public SHSs, according to a publication by Labari Journal. This policy, etched into the fabric of Ghana’s secondary education since the colonial era, requires girls to keep their hair no longer than the earlobe – a policy mostly enforced through outright shaving upon enrollment. Proponents of this policy, spearheaded by the Honorable Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, applaud this policy as a bedrock of discipline and equity, a tool that levels the playing ground in resource-constrained boarding schools where elaborate hairstyles could further widen socio-economic gaps.  Articles published by some media outlets, including Labari Journal, suggest that critics of this policy ranging from human rights advocates to cultural scholars, who decry the policy as a vestige of imperial control and mentality, an assault on authentic Africa (and Ghanaian) identity, and bodily autonomy, all of which are better suited in the annals of history than the classrooms of 2025.

Quite interesting, the timing of this incident could not have been more poignant. An already ailing Ghana’s education system, which is currently reeling from the damages and disruptions inflicted on it by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by poor and inadequate infrastructure, as well as falling quality standards in a plethora of educational setups, finds itself once again on a trial, not for its pedagogical innovations or inadequate funding but for a policy [to many] as seemingly trivial as hair length. As usual, we all know that the dust around debates on digital platforms concerning such issues always settles after a few days of tantrums, disagreements, and ‘banter’. However, in this case, deeper questions continue to be asked: Does uniformity in appearance truly shape character, or does it suppress the very creativity schools strive to nurture? Is the low haircut a relic demanding retirement, or a pragmatic anchor in a dispensation of fleeting distractions? The purpose of this article is to delve into these factions, trace the roots of the policy, dissect the arguments on both sides, and evaluate its contemporary pertinence. Ultimately, this article contends that while empathy for the affected students is warranted, dismembering the policy outrightly risks unraveling the disciplined ethos that has long been hailed as the bedrock of Ghana’s public education miracle.

Historical Context: From Colonial Imposition to Post-Independence Norm

To understand the grip of the low-cut policy in Ghana’s education system, it is important for one to journey back in time to the shadowed corridors of the country’s colonial education. Introduced by British missionaries and administrators in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the rule was never about only aesthetics; it was a contraption for control, rooted in racial hierarchies. African hair, voluminous, coiled, and unyielding to European combs, was regarded as “unsightly”, “dirty”, or a harbinger of “distraction”, as well as disease. Secondary cycle educational institutions like the Achimota School, founded by Presbyterian missionary Alexander G. Fraser in 1927, epitomized this ethos. The vision of the founder – “practical education” – for Africans involved grooming standards that reflected British boarding schools, where short hair was a sign of subjugation to authority and tidiness. Historically, some sources familiar with Ghana and British history, such as Minority Africa and Reddit.com, have indicated that enslaved African women during the transatlantic slave trade faced a similar degradation situation – shaved heads to fight lice and enforce a semblance of cleanness.

After independence in 1957, Ghana’s leadership, under Kwame Nkrumah, inherited this model wholly. The immediate priority and intense focus of the country at the time was mass education to produce a unified, disciplined citizenry capable of effective nation-building. The country immediately began to model public schools on colonial templates, leading to Ghana’s education apparatus sticking with the low haircut policy as a symbol of equity: no room for the vanities that might divide students along class lines. On one side, boys faced analogous rules like close haircuts to promote “tidiness”; however, the enforcement of these rules was much stricter on girls, demonstrating lingering patriarchal and colonial biases. By the 1970s, as military regimes like that of Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings stressed austerity, the low haircut policy for students coalesced into an unassailable norm. Subsequently, the Ghana Education Service (GES), formed in 1974, codified the policy in its guidelines, barring “weaves, extensions, or hair longer than the ears”, labelling it as essential for hygiene in communal environments like classrooms and dormitories, as reported by media outlets like the Ghana Report and the Labari Journal.

Defending the status quo

At the heart of my defence of the policy lies a philosophy as old as formal education itself: schools are crucibles for character, not canvases for self-expression. The Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, speaking at the 75th anniversary of Mawuli School in Ho on October 25, 3035, echoed this with unflinching resolve. In his words, “we are in the business of molding character, not running a beauty contest”. The Minister further declared that “if we concede on hair today, tomorrow it will be shoes, the next day dress codes, and soon, the uniformity that binds our institutions will fray”. These strong words from the Minister were broadcast on several respected media outlets in the country, resonating with traditionalists and disciplinarians who perceive the low haircut as a microcosm of life’s thoroughness, foregoing vanity for collective good.

Again, we can all agree that discipline has been the cornerstone of the successes of Ghana’s education system. In Ghana’s Free SHS dispensation, where class sizes swell to over 70 students per class and boarding facilities are under triple occupancy, uniform grooming drastically reduces conflicts. I agree with proponents favouring this side of the argument that school girls keeping long hair might invite teasing over affordability, brands, and styles, creating cliques that downplay solidarity. A 2022 GES internal survey of 50 SHS heads highlighted 78% of the heads reporting fewer grooming-related infractions post-enrollment cuts. I strongly believe that this promotes uniform discipline in our SHSs. I share a perspective published in an article by Modern Ghana, that hygiene bolsters this low haircut policy. In Ghana’s secondary school boarding facilities, two common features are communal latrines and erratic water supply, both of which make lice outbreaks a common occurrence in our SHSs. The point here is that short hair simplifies both inspections and treatments, resulting in positive public health outcomes.

Lastly, I support this policy with a discussion on equity promotion. In Ghana’s current economy, elaborate weaves or braids probably cost between 50 – 200 cedis, and if SHS students keep long hair, they would need to pay this cost probably monthly. Will rural families heavily reliant on subsistence farming and meager trade earnings keep up with this expenditure? Although it is easy to dismiss this point by saying all students don’t need to keep long hair, one must also consider the peer pressure and emotional trauma that might also be brought to students from low-income families who cannot fund this expenditure. I also share in the opinion of one of the loudest advocates of the low haircut policy, Gyasiwa Ansah-Yeboah (a parent), who touts that this policy “frees girls from beauty pressures, allowing focus on books”. In co-ed schools, such as Achimota School, where the crop of boys resembles that of girls’ low cut, you would agree with me that the policy fosters gender neutrality, curbing stereotypes of femininity as adornment. In this context, I ask the question: Will boys in our SHSs too be allowed to keep long hair like ‘afro’ and ‘dreadlocks’? If your answer is “No”, then where is the equity and equality we are striving to achieve?

Since the inception of this heated debate, I have seen many critics dismiss the points above as paternalistic. However, empirical evidence from the implementation of the policy tempers that.  A 2023 UNESCO report on African boarding schools heaped praises on Ghana’s uniformity for catapulting attendance rates to 95% at the SHS level. According to the report, one of the contributing factors to this success is that the students, especially girls, spend less time on grooming, affording them adequate time to attend classes, drastically reducing absenteeism. The Education Ministry oversees more than 700 public SHSs, and the Minister appears to have learn lessons from the policy’s “slippery slopes”. In 2024, two SHSs in Accra piloted a change in the policy’s implementation by relaxing it, and this led to a 15% uptick in uniform violation, according to a study by some independent researchers, including Pew Survey.

Conclusion

The rationale of the policy, that is, discipline through uniformity, holds intuitive appeal; however, it crumbles under rigorous scrutiny. Although to uphold each of the points made above, other aspects of the reformation we seek in our education must not be forgone, I believe that the greater good this policy brings is worth it. For instance, a GES data states touts 85% compliance to the policy in our schools, leading to improved focus on academics; however, the policy does not add any meaning to confounders, such as the quality of the curriculum. Also, a 2024 WHO report supports the argument on hygiene, as it suggested that the incidence of lice is 40% less in students with low cut. The same WHO report in 2024 identified 30 minutes of daily time saving on grooming in students with low haircuts, however, at a cost to their identity. Ultimately, whereas I agree that Ghana’s context requires pragmatism, I also believe that a wholesale relaxation of such policy might overwhelm administrators; a typical example being the impact of the ban on corporal punishment on the surge of indiscipline in our SHSs. Another classical case study is the 2019 partial weave ban lift, causing backlog delays. In all this, a hybrid, that is, low cuts with neat plait allowances, might partially solve the problem, but also have the potential of leading to the “slope” the Minister warned of.

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The writer, Richard G. Adjadeh, is a graduate student in Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Michigan State University, and a Research Assistant with Afrobarometer. He takes responsibility for the arguments in this article and can be contacted via adjadehrichie@gmail.com or adjadehr@msu.edu

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.