Manchester High scraps ‘archaic’ ban on hair extensions

Modest styling doesn’t distract from teaching or learning, says dean of discipline

MANCHESTER HIGH has revised its rules to allow for schoolgirls to wear hair extensions to classes, a rare concession in Jamaica’s long-running culture clash over grooming.

The compromise, which Manchester’s Dean of Discipline Sigrid Miller said signals “a new era”, is an outlier in parent-administration relations that could offer a template for consensus for other schools.

The updated rules were sent to parents before the reopening of school on Monday.

An excerpt from Manchester High’s school handbook details that female students are expected to maintain clean, neatly groomed hair. But where wigs, hair extensions, artificial braids or any other hair additions are worn, they must not exceed shoulder length, except where the original hair length exceeds that marker.

Additionally, the natural colour of the hair must be maintained. Visible lines, patterns, cutting, dyeing, and bleaching are prohibited.

Miller told The Gleaner that the decision to revise the hair-extension ban was taken during the period when students were engaged in dual-modality learning. She said that students would often wear hair extensions while doing online classes and retain them when they attended the school’s campus for in-person sessions.

“Given that the no-hair-extension rule was in our handbook, we had to ask that they be removed. In doing that, parents kept asking what was the problem with it, and some of them even mentioned that it was an archaic rule and that we needed to revisit it,” she said.

Miller said that the revision decision took into consideration parents’ concerns as well as an assessment that students, at large, wore hair extensions modestly.

“What we used to have in recent times is that students would discreetly wear the extensions – those students, in particular, had a problem getting the hair in a bun, or getting it together in one. They would put the extensions in discreetly and because I and a few other members of staff had an eye for that kind of detail we would see it,” Miller said.

“But we’d also observe that it was so neatly done and it in no way distracts from the mission of the teaching learning process, ”she said.

The dean of discipline said there has already been an increase in the number of students wearing hair extensions since school reopened and that administrators were pleased because no extravagance or other breaches have been observed.

“We need not be afraid to try, and then we need to decide if there’s anything we need to pull back on, but let’s try. Let’s not be terrified,” Miller said.

The Ministry of Education does not prohibit hair extensions in its policy for students’ dress and grooming.

Instead, it posits that students should aim to groom themselves in a manner that preserves the dignity of the appearance of the uniform and the decorum of the school. Grooming standards are promoted within the parameters of neatness, cleanliness, and safety.

But those standards are often open to interpretation. The collision of conservative and progressive values has sparked clashes between principals and parents, including a 2018 lawsuit against Kensington Primary. (The court ruled that the school did not breach the constitutional rights of a dreadlocked five-year-old child when it denied her access.)

Students have often been barred from classes or entry to school compounds, a decision which has drawn the rebuke of the education ministry.

State Minister of Culture Alando Terrelonge has lauded Manchester High’s policy review as innovative and progressive, adding that it would benefit students who suffer with various hair conditions.

“Persons need to understand that there are some students who suffer from varying times of hair conditions, issues like alopecia. We do have some of our students who are cancer patients, for example, and they lose their hair or whatever the condition where wigs and hair extensions might be allowed ... so that children can preserve their dignity as well, ”said Terrelonge, who wears dreadlocks.