Blackman: Broad compliance with grooming rules

Students have largely complied with the National Grooming Policy at the start of the new school year, with videos due within days to show parents and students what is required, Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman has revealed.

The policy was introduced in January 2023, setting standards for grooming, dress and deportment in schools.

It allowed natural hairstyles such as locs and cornrows while setting broader standards for students’ appearance and conduct.

It again became the subject of public discussion in 2025, including debate over whether clearer guidelines were needed and how standards surrounding Black hairstyles were being interpreted.

Earlier this year, Blackman called for stronger enforcement, with principals given the authority to ensure students adhere to the standards.

Speaking to reporters at Wesley Hall Junior School on Monday, Blackman said there had been no major problems with students’ compliance as the new school year got under way.

He said: “Routinely, principals will do different spot checks around the schools. I’ve heard a few things where principals have to speak to a number of students, but that’s a normal thing. There have been no major problems that we’ve encountered or heard of reported over the last week. What it tells me though, is that parents are now even more so than before, ensuring that their children are coming to school in the right way.”

He said there would be some students who do not fall neatly within the policy, but stressed the need for consistency in how it is enforced across the school system.

“It is about ensuring that the mechanism is open, transparent and fair so that Principal A at one school doesn’t do something different to what Principal B at another school is doing; there’s consistency.”

The grooming policy extends beyond students’ hair to their overall appearance and the way they wear their uniforms, Blackman said.

“It’s not only about hair…so students, of course, firstly, must ensure that their hair is neat and tidy. If you’re a young man, make sure it is groomed. It shouldn’t be a little sponge in your hair or whatever. 

“Young ladies should have it plaited or well put together, no extensions, no purple, no pink, no blue but in addition to that, it’s about how you gonna carry your uniform, wearing the socks and the right socks at the appropriate length, wearing the right shoes, the right colour, making sure that they’re polished, and make sure that your fingernails are clean; all of that forms part of the reinforcement of the grooming policy.”

In a “matter of days”, how-to videos would be released “so that we can give parents and students examples of what that looks like in real terms”, the minister said.

Blackman also said principals must have the “power to be able to act firmly but clearly, because, of course, too far east is west. The chief would have spoken to our principals ahead of the school year during planning week to ensure that they understand the importance of that this year. Discipline is a running theme of Education Transformation”.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw said principals were reporting that students were largely complying with the policy, while reminding students that school is not a fashion show.

“When you’re going to school, boys: no earrings; girls: no long extensions; we want pants fitting well, we want skirts fitting well, and I believe that we will get the kind of results that we’re looking for.”

(LG)