The majority of local government educational authorities support the Ministry of Education's decision to grant students the freedom to choose a hairstyle, Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠) said.
Fan said her office had contacted education heads for 19 of 25 cities and counties around the country, and all were in favor of the abolition of the regulations.
The ministry is still trying to seek the opinion of the remaining six cities and counties, Fan said.
The vice minister admitted, however, that school principals were the keys to whether the ministry's policy change would work, and she said the ministry was trying to convince them to give their students the right to determine the appearance of their own hair.
Describing the regulations as a relic of authoritarianism, Fan said they were abandoned -- at least on paper -- by the ministry in 1987, but students at most elementary and middle schools still had to follow guidelines on what hairstyle they could have, with crewcuts the most common style imposed by schools on male students.
Today, Fan said, students were being more assertive about their right to determine their attire and hairstyles than they were 18 years ago, and some students recently questioned the legitimacy of the regulations on the Internet.
She said schools should accommodate their wishes or risk inviting criticism from "liberal-minded people" in the larger community, she said.
In a democracy, students should be given the right to choose their own hairstyle, Fan said. This was consistent with the idea that schools aim to teach students to be responsible members of society by making decisions for themselves and thinking on their own, she said.
In a bulletin issued last month, the ministry banned public elementary and middle schools from regulating hairstyle in any form starting with the new semester next month.
The announcement caused uproar among some school principals, one of whom called the changes a "travesty of education in the guise of democracy." A number of principals are vowing to maintain regulations for what they call "hygiene and health reasons."
Citing education laws, these opponents also argue that hairstyles fall within the school's authority rather than that of the ministry.
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