Samriddhi Karki, 18, who was studying in grade 11, was forced to cut his hair. Every three to four weeks, teachers and discipline in-charges would line up students at his school in Kathmandu and check their hair.

If they were found to have long hair, they would be given various punishments. They would call home, not allow him to enter the classroom, and sometimes even take away his ID card.

Karki said, “They were putting a lot of mental pressure on me about my hair.”

But he refused. “It doesn’t matter whether you cut your hair or not. It neither makes your studies better nor worse.”

He then registered a complaint on the issue with a civic forum called ‘Speak Up Nepal’. Within the first month, 250 people signed his complaint and memorandum in support of his complaint. According to Kritika Ghimire, project manager of ‘Speak Up Nepal’, this platform transforms ordinary complaints into campaigns. It was launched by Ghimire, Prince Shah and Sahara Bhandari.

According to the platform’s policy, complaints with more than 250 signatures are automatically sent to the relevant government agency.

Karki’s case crossed the 250 mark in the first month. ‘That’s when we realized that this was not just the experience of one student. Because hundreds of people were reporting similar problems,’ said Ghimire.

After this, the complaint went to various agencies institutionally for 19 months. It went through the Kathmandu Education Office, the Education and Human Resource Development Center and other agencies, and finally reached the Ministry of Education and Sports. Finally, the tenth amendment to the Education Regulations on Asad 19, 2083 has banned schools and colleges from forcibly cutting hair without the consent of students. It prohibits discrimination or harassment based on hair style, body shape or makeup. It has expanded the right of students to personal appearance, and has also declared physical and mental harassment in the name of school discipline illegal.

However, despite the passage of the amendment, many schools and colleges around Kathmandu are continuing the old style. Karki said, ‘Many schools are still not following it. Some colleges have stopped the old style. But they have not stopped pressuring students informally.’

According to Aryan (name changed), a student of Budhanilkantha School, her school has not made any formal rules on appearance. But teachers ask students to tie their hair, not wear makeup and not wear mehendi. She likes to wear light makeup like mascara and lip gloss. Although the school environment is not abusive, teachers have occasionally pointed fingers at her in front of other students. She said, 'Makeup is about feeling good about yourself. It shouldn't be such a big deal.'

Bharat Prasai, 39, the father of a 9-year-old student, said that the practice of monitoring students' appearance has been around for a long time. He said that there has never been a clear and consistent standard on the subject from the beginning. He recalled his own school days when teachers would measure the length of students' hair by pulling them.

From a parent's perspective, he has not seen any harm in letting hair fall below the neck or to the forehead or in girls wearing makeup. 'I don't think there would be a problem with it,' he said. He believes that teachers should not be given the right to monitor students in this way.

According to Ghimire, the biggest challenge was convincing people that this issue was worth paying attention to as a policy. “Many have accepted this as a normal part of school discipline for years,” she said, adding, “The focus is on whether or not forced haircuts are appropriate disciplinary practices. It took us a long time to explain that we did not do this to challenge hair styles or school discipline.”

Ghimire said the campaign took a long time to move forward due to legal review, coordination between different agencies, and procedural aspects of policy-making. According to Ghimire, during the 19 months that followed, Speak Up Nepal or the original complainant did not face any significant opposition or ridicule in the school. Even in places where there were differences of opinion, most interactions with schools, officials, and parents were respectful.

According to Ghimire, Speak Up Nepal’s next goal is to ensure similar protections in the Education Act by getting it approved by parliament, not just in regulations. She added, “Its success will not be measured solely on policy changes.” It will be measured by whether students across Nepal actually experience that change in their daily school life.’

Not everyone agrees with the law. Nawaraj Bhatta, president of the Kathmandu district chapter of PABSON, the umbrella organization for private schools, said that hair, dress and hygiene should be a matter between schools and parents. He argues that the state should not legislate on this.’

‘The government should not encourage it. Hair should not be made a matter of prestige,’ he said, ‘an institution should be able to make its own rules and laws.’ He said that there are three other umbrella organizations representing Nepal’s private education sector (HISAN, APAN and NPABSON) that also share the view that the government should not interfere in this matter.’ He argued that the change has made students more rebellious instead of solving any problems. ‘Just yesterday, students in my school did not cut their hair. When they were asked to cut their hair. They took to social media to say it was against the rules,' Bhatt said. 'It encourages students to be rebellious, and it will lead to practical problems if it is banned.'

Kalpana Oli Sitaula, school in-charge of Pathibhara Academy in Bhaktapur, said that the rules on appearance are just one part of the broader disciplinary framework set by the school. Earlier, schools used to make a single rule for students, but now, she said, individual counseling is gradually gaining importance. 'In a collective environment, we can't always say yes to everything,' she said. While she didn't directly defend the practice of forced haircuts, she said it would take time for schools to assimilate the change. “Problems will arise for a year or two,” she said. “We have been following one system and when we move to another system, there is naturally a kind of transition period.”

Sitaula said she did not feel that she should oppose the change just because it is new. “If this law is made, then we have to implement it,” she said. “We teachers also need to change along with the students.” She said that hair alone does not determine everything but should pay attention to practical activities such as other things that are added to it.

Ministry of Education spokesperson Shivkumar Sapkota said that those who violate the rules will face legal consequences. “Once this legal provision is made, any violation of it is punishable,” he said. “If someone does not implement it, a case can be filed in court or administrative action can be taken.”

He said that the local government will be responsible for monitoring it. Similarly, he clarified that no grace period has been given to schools to adapt to the rules. ‘There is no need for any time limit,’ he said, ‘it has been implemented since the day it was published in the Gazette.’

Child rights activist and Deputy Director of Voice of Children Raju Ghimire claimed that the law was weak as it came as a regulation approved by the Council of Ministers and not as an Act passed by Parliament. ‘This is not an Act. Therefore, even though it is expected to be binding, it may not be binding.’