29/10/2025
🚫 GES’s reinforcement of the hair-cutting mandate for SHS female students is a predictably sad reality for Ghana.✂️
Once again, we are resisting the natural progression of growth and development under the guise of cultural norms—norms that were born out of maladaptive interactions rather than genuine values.
From time immemorial, it was said that girls in government schools were required to cut their hair because long hair would distract them from their studies.
Later, it was argued that keeping hair sakora—was easier for parents to maintain.
🚫Now, in 2025, the justification has shifted again: hair growth is said to be a problem because of poor school environments and inadequate boarding house conditions. More disturbingly, it is also being linked to so-called “indiscipline,” which some claim provokes adult men to assault and mo**st schoolgirls⁉️
We must pause and re-evaluate where we stand as a nation—mentally, emotionally, and morally—regarding the image we project to the world about who we are as global citizens and how we govern ourselves.
To stand in 2025 and claim that Ghanaian girls are indisciplined simply because they grow their hair—what, then, of Chinese, Lebanese, and Indian students? And more importantly, what of Ghanaian students in private schools within Ghana, or those studying abroad?
We must be more analytical and introspective in crafting policies and behaviors that shape future generations and influence how Ghana is perceived globally.
Upholding policies that reinforce class subjugation only breeds unscrupulous behavior, as people struggle to rise and reinvent versions of themselves disconnected from the trauma they have endured.
To perpetuate the notion that Ghanaian girls are naturally, habitually, and inherently indisciplined or problematic paints a distorted picture to the world—one that undermines our identity, self-worth, and capacity for productive autonomy.
🚩Adding to this irony, Ghanaian women are often criticized for wearing Brazilian hair and embracing a European aesthetic—by the very people who enforce policies that discourage the acceptance and celebration of natural hair. This contradiction reveals a deeper cultural confusion about what we value and how we define beauty, discipline, and identity.🚩
Equally concerning is the overlooked link between traction alopecia, scarring alopecia, and fibroid conditions that can lead to partial or full hysterectomies—and, in some cases, the inability to carry a full-term pregnancy. These are silent crises afflicting many Ghanaian women, who are too often dismissed as “too known” or “indisciplined” for asserting their rights.
As the authority on education in Ghana, the GES had a valuable opportunity to present verifiable data comparing the academic performance of female students in GES-mandated schools to those in non-GES institutions.
The greater opportunity, however, was missed: to pioneer a forward-thinking initiative that promotes the growth and maintenance of natural hair—while still upholding a professional dress code.
These two principles are not mutually exclusive❗️