hankyoreh

“No hair restrictions”. (by Park Jong-shik

By Park Soo-jin, staff reporter

A majority of Seoul-area middle and high schools are defying a Seoul City Government Student Human Rights Ordinance prohibiting school regulations on the length of students’ hair.

Findings released on Oct. 30 from a Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) examination of regulations at 1,292 elementary, middle, and high schools showed 691 of them, or 53.5%, to have rules that limit the permitted length of students’ hair. The examination was carried out at the direction of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

High percentages of middle and high schools had hair length limits. Of the 379 middle schools, 333, or 88%, had limits, as did 282 of the 317 high schools, or 89%. Rules on hair length were also found at 71 of 596 elementary schools.

The ordinance, implemented in January, recognizes students’ right to express individuality through their personal appearance, which includes clothing and hairstyle. But the examination results show that schools are not complying.

Indeed, the scissors have been making a comeback, and Seoul area school rules have been stepped up all around, ever since vice superintendent Lee Dae-young took over as acting chief in late September.

At “S” Middle School in Seoul’s Seongbuk district, the teacher in charge of the disciplinary division personally cut the hair of 20 students at the school gates on the morning of Oct. 8.

A student’s parent who complained to the school said, “The same teacher had given similar impromptu haircuts in the past before stopping after the ordinance was proclaimed early this year. But the haircut guidelines had been intensified and the haircuts resumed in late September.”

Rules were also intensified recently at a high school in the Yongsan district. A student there called the SMOE human rights education center on Oct. 8 to ask whether the ordinance had been dropped. According to the student, ever since a press interview in which Lee Dae-young said he would leave the matter of enacting and amending school rules to the schools themselves, teachers had begun cracking down, telling students the “the time for that kind of nasty hair is over” and that students with long hair should be prepared for the consequences.

The vagueness of Lee Dae-young’s position has been a major factor in the gutting of the ordinance’s terms at schools.

On Oct. 8, MEST amended the enforcement decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, then sent a document to the country’s 17 provincial and metropolitan offices of education, to find out about the enactment and amendment of school rules. The SMOE distributed the document to all Seoul schools. The document included inquiry into whether the schools had rules on hairstyles, clothing, and mobile phones, apparently checking for haircut and clothing regulations.

The human rights education center, which handles investigations and counseling for violation of student rights, noted confusion on the ground as to whether the ordinance should be incorporated in rule enactments and amendment. The center also recommended adding an SMOE explanation that school rules should indeed abide by the terms of its ordinance. But Lee ignored the recommendation.

The SMOE’s student human rights committee, chaired by Konkuk professor Han Sang-hui, sent a letter on Oct. 18 arguing that by sending the MEST document to the schools, SMOE was undermining the ordinance.

Still, there were no signs of a change in stance from Lee. Indeed, at an Oct. 23 talk with reporters at the SMOE building, he maintained that schools did not have to consider the ordinance in their school rules.

When asked whether schools would have to amend their regulations to meet the terms of the ordinance, Lee replied, “The enforcement decree is the law, so they should follow the law.”

Han said, “The Student Human Rights Ordinance was already announced and enforced. The suit against the ordinance by the MEST has not been ruled on, so vice superintendent Lee Dae-young has to confirm, direct and supervise the enforcement of the municipal council’s ordinance.”

Han added, “It’s a dereliction of duty for the superintendent to sit back while most schools violate the ordinance.”

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