Readers have given their views about students keeping hair in response to: Does long hair disrupt studies? that appeared in Education Vision on Wednesday, February 17, 2010.

It is barbaric,/b>
Forcing school girls to trim hair is the most barbaric idea ever mooted! Strangely enough, this rule is applied based on one’s race. Why the discrimination? Most schools argue that maintaining long hair interferes with the learner’s ability to study. If that is the case, I wonder how Gayaza High School that allows girls to maintain their hair, has managed to stay in the top 10 schools for many years.
- Veronica Birungi

If these schools are training future ladies, then hair management should be part and parcel of the school curriculum. It is high time the Ugandan school curriculum changed to promote job creators instead of white collar job-seekers.
- Lilian B

As a student, who studied in Nairobi where girls have their hair throughout school, I think school girls should have their hair.
Forcing them to cut it off is deceiving. Those who cannot concentrate will fail to concentrate with hair or no hair. If hair is allowed, then they can choose to shave theirs off if that is what works for them. Besides that, the bible says hair is the crowning glory of a woman. Making girls cut off their hair just gives them one more chance to rebel against teachers. Performance has nothing to do with hair.
- Samantha Kimathi,
Mubende

I don’t think it is wrong for us to keep long hair as long as we can maintain it.
- Student in S.5

The issue of having short hair was brought by colonialists.
- Anonymous

In places I have been to in the world, they find it weird that we get our girls to cut off their hair.
If girls are left to grow their hair from childhood, by the time they need to concentrate on books, it would be long enough and easy to maintain in a puff. A woman’s hair is her pride. Why then should we take this pride away from women?
- E. Nankunda

A violation of rights
Cutting girls’ hair is a violation of rights. Some female teachers have hairstyles that do not make them smart yet a school girl could look smarter with that hairstyle.
It is not good when the maintainance is poor. Hairdressing encourages girls to be smart
- Chris,
Gulu

Maintaining hair is time-wasting
Long hair can prevent most girls from performing well in school. Teenage students always want to look pretty. They will spend most of their time on their hair with minimum concentration on books.
Secondly, long hair can bring conflicts or fights when girls begin competing among themselves and even sometimes, female teachers get some misunderstandings with students on this issue.
It is also costly to keep long hair neat. The costs keep the girls worried on how they can keep up the standards. They also subject the girls to temptations. Long hair distracts school girls mainly in college and high school.
- Robinah Nabwire ,
College student

During my primary school and high school days, we used to grow hair but at some point it was abolished in my junior high school.
Girls arrived at school late or did not hand in their homework in time, not because they were lazy, but because they spent a lot of time braiding each other’s hair.
It was good that my headmaster at that time recommended hair less than two inches for girls. We then spent less money and time on hair and focused on our studies. I eventually had all the freedom to grow my hair after my O’level.
- Eve B,
US

During adolescence, teenagers like expressing themselves in many ways and hairstyle is one form. I think they should be given the liberty to do what they like with their hair.
Our educationists should focus on the high impact interventions that improve learning and educational performance. There is no empirical evidence to show that having long hair, wearing trousers for girls and make-up negatively affect the education of a person.
I find such values archaic and meaningless! Besides, young people must be taught to juggle their responsibilities within the limited time they have, to know what is most important in life, we are unequal in society and there are choices one has to make. This prepares them for the real world ahead of them.
- Victoria Matovu

Your article “Why should school girls cut off their hair?” has prompted me to respond because of the ridiculousness and absurdity of the rules put in place by school officials.
I do not find any intellectual rationale in the school administrations’ notion:“long hair interferes with the girls’ ability to concentrate at school”. What makes matters worse, is that other pupils of different ethnicities are allowed to keep their hair long.
There are issues I would like to point out.
l Equality before the law. Schools have the right to make rules but these rules have to apply to all. If we tell an African girl not to keep her hair long but an Indian or white girl is allowed to keep hers, what message are we sending to these young girls? Do school officials know the psychological effects of such rules on the developing minds?
If school officials are worried about pupil’s concentration in class, they should revise their rules in regard to the discrimination since it is damaging students.
I would advise the parents that feel grieved by this policy to sue the school administration and let the constitutional court take up the case because this would set a precedent on issues of discrimination in the country.
I wonder how someone would point to hair as having an effect on academic achievement or lack of it.
I live in the US and almost all public schools have no rules on school uniform. It is these schools that feed US universities, some of which rank best in the world. Can someone tell me that because of the “hair policy” Uganda has the best universities?
- Mugume K

No school girl should be allowed to keep hair while at school. Long hair leads to failure in exams because girls waste time maintaining it instead of revising books.
- Winnie Nakafu

Should school girls grow hair?