It was early morning when thousands of students in matching uniforms gathered for their daily assembly at a Bangkok high school. Among them was eighth grader Baramee Chaovawanich, nicknamed “Khao Klong,” standing in line with 3,600 classmates during a routine inspection of appearance and dress code.
That day, a teacher pointed at Khao Klong. His hair was a few centimeters too long. As punishment, the teacher shaved part of his head in front of the entire school, leaving the haircut unfinished. He was forced to wear it that way for the rest of the day.
“I felt humiliated,” said Khao Klong, now 20 and a university student. “It was like being turned into a joke. Everyone in class laughed at me. That memory still sticks with me.”
Scenes like this were once common across Thailand, where students were subjected to strict grooming rules that far exceeded typical school dress codes. For decades, boys were required to have short, military-style crew cuts. Girls had to keep their hair in short bobs that stopped at their ears. In 2013, the government relaxed the rules slightly, allowing boys to grow their hair to the base of their neck and girls to wear longer hair if it was tied up.Even then, a few centimeters over the limit could result in public punishment.
Now, change is underway. In March, Thailand’s highest administrative court struck down a 1975 directive from the Ministry of Education that mandated these hairstyle rules. The court ruled that the regulations were unconstitutional, saying they placed “excessive restrictions on personal freedom” and harmed students’ mental health—especially those with diverse gender identities.
The ruling followed years of pressure from student activists, especially during widespread protests in 2020 that challenged government authority and called for education reform. In response, the education ministry allowed individual schools to set their own appearance guidelines.For some students, the decision brought relief.
“Things are more relaxed now,” said 16-year-old Nijchaya Kraisriwattana. Her school in Bangkok once held weekly inspections, and she had previously lost academic points for letting her hair grow too long. At one point, she even had to pin back her bangs and hide stray hairs to comply. “But recently, they don’t check as strictly,” she said.Still, not everyone is convinced the problem is solved.
“At first, I felt happy reading the news,” said Khao Klong. “But later, people started analyzing it. It seems like there are still gaps. Some schools might keep enforcing harsh rules if the government doesn’t step in.”
Student activists say they haven’t seen widespread changes since the court ruling. They worry that, without clear enforcement from the Ministry of Education, some schools will continue the old practices.CNN has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment.
