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The existing rule in Senior High Schools (SHSs) which stipulates that students must keep their hair trimmed and short is just a norm, according to a former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Michael Nsowah Adjei. 

Three students of the St John’s Grammar Senior High School were prevented from writing Christian Religious Studies paper in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

This was a punishment meted out to them by the headmaster of the school because the 3 girls had refused a directive to go trim their bushy hair which is said to be against the school rules.

The GES has however ordered the school authorities to sponsor the girls to write the paper in the November/December edition of WASSCE.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Nsowah Adjei stated that there is no recommended length of hair for SHS students but the various schools make that determination.

He acknowledged that even though the students have their individual rights, school authorities have been enforcing the short hair rule as a means of helping the students concentrate on their studies.

“For many of the schools, and also for economic reasons, they will prefer that the students don’t waste too much time going to expensive salons so they advise that the students keep their hair low so they can concentrate on their studies and it has become a norm,” he remarked.

The two reasons according to Mr. Nsowah informed the decision by school authorities to adopt and incorporate the short hair policy into the various rules and regulations of Senior High Schools. 

“In fact, in some of the schools, they allow them to even add hair pieces to make corn roll and all those kinds of things but…it all depend of the school,” he added.

The former GES Director General nonetheless condemned the headmaster of the school for preventing the students from writing their external exams.

He asked, “how can you prevent somebody from writing WASSCE exam which will determine his or her destiny? I don’t think that is right.”

Mr. Nsowah further queried how come the school authorities failed to see the bushy hair of the girls until the day of the exams.

“This is a rule which is enforced so why is it that whoever is responsible for enforcing the rules did not notice this until the person was about to enter the exam room? If it is the rule, it is accepted and it is in the rules and regulations, then somebody must be put in charge to enforce it to make sure that everybody complies,” he said.

“If they are in the boarding houses, there is a housemaster and a house mistress. If the person is a day student, every morning when they go to assemblies or they go to class, a teacher who notices it should draw the attention of the authorities so why was this not noticed until the student was about to enter the exam room,” he added.