New rules outlaw forced haircuts at schools, but schools aren’t convinced

Eighteen-year-old Sambriddha Karki faced persistent mental harassment at his school in Kathmandu for having hair that was deemed too long by authorities. For months, he and his peers were subjected to punishments like being barred from class or having their identity cards confiscated, all under the guise of maintaining a "professional look."

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They were giving me a lot of mental harassment for getting my hair cut.

Frustrated by the arbitrary rules, Karki decided to challenge the practice by filing a petition through SpeakUp Nepal, a civic platform. The petition quickly garnered 250 signatures, the threshold for a complaint to become a public campaign. Kritika Ghimire, project manager at SpeakUp Nepal, noted that the public's response indicated the issue resonated deeply, signifying "this wasn’t just one student’s experience."

Over approximately 19 months, Karki's petition moved through various educational authorities, culminating in the tenth amendment to the education regulations on July 3. This amendment explicitly forbids schools and colleges from forcibly cutting students' hair without their consent. It also extends protections to students' personal appearance, prohibiting discrimination or harassment based on hairstyles, body image, or makeup, and outlawing physical and mental harassment conducted in the name of school discipline.

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We don’t decide which petitions deserve attention. That’s decided by the public.

This amendment marks the first legal provision affirming that a student's appearance is their own right, not subject to institutional control. However, the practical implementation faces challenges. Weeks after the amendment's passage, Karki reports that many schools and colleges in Kathmandu have not ceased the practice, with some unofficially compelling students to adhere to traditional appearance norms.

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That was the moment we realised this wasn’t just one student’s experience as hundreds of people were saying, ‘This matters to us.’

Ariana, a student at Budhanilkantha School (who requested anonymity), shared that even without explicit rules on appearance, her school imposes expectations on girls regarding tied hair, no makeup, and avoiding mehendi. This suggests that while the law addresses forced haircuts, broader issues of unequal freedoms and expectations related to personal appearance persist within educational institutions.

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Many schools are still not following it. Only one or two colleges have stopped it, but unofficially, they are still compelling students.