The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion has moved to clar­i­fy its po­si­tion on stu­dent hair­styles af­ter an im­age, al­leged­ly from a sec­ondary school, cir­cu­lat­ed wide­ly on so­cial me­dia out­lin­ing strict groom­ing rules and show­ing ex­am­ples of hair­styles de­scribed as “not ac­cept­ed”.

The im­age, ti­tled School Rules 2026, lists de­tailed re­stric­tions on hair length and styles for fe­male stu­dents, in­clud­ing lim­its on bun size and bans on cer­tain nat­ur­al hair­styles.

In a state­ment is­sued in re­sponse, the min­istry said the Na­tion­al School Code of Con­duct does not pre­scribe or pro­hib­it spe­cif­ic hair­styles.