Educationist Alberta Mensah has clarified that the wearing of short hairstyles by females in Ghana’s educational system is not a directive from the Ghana Education Service but a traditional norm in the Ghanaian society.
This comes after some concerns were raised by some parents on the short hairstyles some of their wards are forced to wear in their schools.
According to Alberta Mensah, in the historical Ghanaian society, cutting of the hair was a way of initiating girls into womanhood and that is why girls had to wear their hair short.
” But before then what i know was that Ghanaians girls, when they get to their puberty time, their hair is cut off to introduce them to womanhood. It is actually not a rule from GES, but a norm from the schools. That is why there’s a difference. Some schools allow their students to wear short hairs, others do not.” she said.
She added that the required hairstyle of a particular school is always decided by the respective schools management.
” And as schools have their rules in the school, they put their prospectus when your child gets admission and you go for the form, you’ll find out your child needs to wear the short hairstyle and allowing them to do hair, some will go and do otherwise, some will go and braid inappropriate hairstyles that will be touching their eyes and affect them.” She said.
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Story by: Cindy Selasi Humade | univers.ug.edu.gh
