Ministry ends regulations governing student hairstyle
The Ministry of Education has revoked its regulations on hairstyle of students and will allow each school to frame their own rules, with input from students and related parties.
The ministerial regulation signed by Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong dated January 16, 2023 was published on the Royal Gazette website on Thursday, stipulating that the 2020 ministerial regulations on student hairstyles is being revoked with immediate effect.
Last week, Trinuch had said that the ministry would allow students, parents, school directors and related parties to jointly decide on acceptable hairstyles for each school. She hoped that the new approach would help eliminate the controversy of students lacking freedom in managing their own body.
The aim of the new approach is to find a mutual ground for hairstyle that makes every party happy, while maintaining the order of educational institutions, she added.
The hairstyle regulations updated in 2020 allowed male students to have longer hair than allowed under previous regulations, but banned perming and colouring.
Many Thai students have been protesting against the hairstyle regulations since it was updated in 2020, with the group, “Bad Students”, claiming that it was still not granting enough freedom for students to express themselves, while many schools are still enforcing rules framed in 1975.
