Japanese students can get in trouble because of their hair dye. Schools are asking for hair-color proof
Japanese students can get in trouble because of their hair color. A recent survey showed that most schools require proof of a student’s natural hair color and texture with parents having to provide childhood photos.
While in most schools a short skirt or a t-shirt with an offensive message will get students in trouble, in Japan, a hair dye could be just as bad. According to a survey conducted by the Ashami Simbun, 57% of Tokyo high schools demand hair-color proof.
Guardians or parents are asked either to confirm a child’s hair-color by signing a document that states the natural hair color or present childhood photos that show what the student’s hair color and texture looks like.
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According to one school official, the process was put in place to prevent children with natural curly hair and lighter hair color to receive warnings that could end up making them feel bad. Public schools are especially concerned with stricter education as competition between the private and the public sector has grown as the birthrates have gone down in Japan.
From the 170 schools that were investigated by the Ashami Simbun, 98 of them had such provisions put in place and some of them provide guidelines at the beginning of the year for students with light hair color.
Foreign students have even been asked to dye their hair brown, according to Business Insider citing a Japan Times article. Talking about immigrants in Japan, the journalists showed that migrants were suffering form the strict rules put in place by Japanese authorities with one Brazilian worker saying that her daughter has had to dye her hair at least once a week. And while these regulations could help provide an adequate learning environment, they could also lead to traumatized children, that feel excluded form the society.
The article goes on to illustrate the strict standards imposed by the local school. Head inspectors were charged with verifying a student’s follicles. And besides hair color, schools also had in place other rules with boys and girls not being permitted to perm, straighten, dye or bleach their hair, they were not allowed to have hair falling over their eyes or be longer than their collars. Girls with long hairs are obliged to pin it down, so as not to interfere with classroom activities.
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