Education ministry bans forced haircuts for students

Just days after a teacher who forced a pupil to submit to a haircut was reprimanded and made to apologise, Thailand’s Ministry of Education has issued a letter instructing all schools under its jurisdiction to repeal the 1975 regulations regarding students’ hairstyle and length, and forbidding the arbitrary cutting of students’ hair at school. The practice has long been used by teachers as a ‘punishment’ to shame students in front of their peers.

The permanent secretary of education, who also serves as spokesman for the Education Ministry, says schools that still enforce the 1975 regulation must also adopt the 2005 regulation stating that punitive actions against students are limited to warnings, probation, demerits and performing social activities.

Commenting on the case earlier this week at a high school in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket, in which a girl student was forced to have her hair cut in front of other students during the flag raising ceremony, he said that the school administrator exceeded his authority.

The girl’s mother was so upset over the forced haircut, which she described as a deliberate public shaming of the girl in front of her peers, she threatened to move her daughter to another school. The director of the provincial education office has reportedly asked the mother to delay moving her daughter to another school while officials try to resolve the problem.

The incident, posted on social media, has drawn widespread criticism of the school administration’s behaviour.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World