Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) communications team and former government spokesperson, Dr. Palgrave Boakye-Danquah, has said the practice of cutting students hair to ensure equality may be outdated and requires further research.
According to him, everyone cannot be equal.
His comments come amid renewed debate over the Senior High School (SHS) haircut policy, which requires female students to cut their hair short upon admission to public schools.
The controversy was reignited after a video went viral on social media showing a female student of Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Senior High School crying while her long natural hair was being cut.
Ghana’s Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, recently reaffirmed the government’s support for the haircut policy.
Speaking at the 75th anniversary of Mawuli Senior High School on Saturday, October 25, the minister said the school environment is meant for “moulding character,” not a “beauty contest.”
He stressed that education authorities would not tolerate long hair “today or tomorrow.”
“If we give in to hair today, tomorrow it will be shoes, and the next day it will be the way they dress,” he said.
“Therefore, as part of our disciplinary measures, headmasters and GES, you are accordingly empowered to take full control of how students behave on your campuses.”
Speaking on Metro TV on October 27, Dr. Boakye-Danquah urged policymakers to evolve with the times.
“We must develop with the growing trends in this country,” he said.
He quoted Professor Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chancellor of the University of Ghana, recalling her experience from earlier decades.
“She said that in the days when she was going to school, if you had sandals and one did not have sandals, you were told to remove your sandal so that you walk barefooted.”
“It was a conversation of equity and equality so that all of us can be the same,” he added.
Dr. Palgrave however argued that such thinking no longer reflects todays reality.
“But the generations have come in where clearly we have seen that we can all not be equal,” he said.
He noted that past policies were rarely questioned or studied, adding that times have changed and educational authorities must be open to new perspectives.
He suggested that in earlier years, students often accepted such rules in silence because there was no social media to amplify their experiences or dissent.
“Maybe we’ve not studied it empirically well because in the days when we were going to school there was no adverse of social media,”
He added that many students were unhappy in schools they did not choose, which sometimes affected their academic performance, saying that these are the kinds of dynamics that now require some research.
“We rebelled strongly against the educational system, our grades were bad because we didn’t like the school. We didn’t study it much. But now we are gradually seeing that there is some studies that must be done,” he said.
Dr. Palgrave argued that cutting female students’ hair has no proven link to discipline or moral development.
“Obviously there is no correlation with character formation and cutting of hair and it’s troubling to see that in the 21st century we continue to have this,” he said.
