Good hair days for schoolgirls

PHUKET: At last, after almost a century of short cuts, the girls can let their hair down. Female students at Satree Phuket have been told that from the new school semester this week, they can grow their hair to eight inches in length. At Satree Phuket, Assistant Director Ajarn Duangkamol H said that fashions and rules today were different from the past. The short-hair rule was outdated. “We thought short haircuts would reinforce the student status of those children and distinguish them from others, but now we have to accept modern standards,” she said. “An end-of-year teacher evaluation determined that our rules are too strict. The most requested change was hair style. Some female students said that if they graduate Matthayom 3 here, they would move unless the rule changed.” She said the shoulder-length bob rule had been in place for 94 years. In 1972, a similar ruling was imposed nationally by the then military government, but the Education Department decided last week to let schools resume setting their own standards on haircuts. “We will launch the new rule with M. 4, M. 5, and M. 6 girls,” K. Duangkamol said. “Other rules, such as grooming and the need to wear uniforms, remain the same. “Anyway, we need to see a better relationship between teachers and students,” she added. Other girls may not be so lucky. A spokeperson at Phuket Wittayalai School said there were no plans to change the rules there because short hair made the students look like real students. As for the boys, the short military-style cut remains the order of the day at both schools.