Tyrone Iras Marhguy, a Computer Engineering Student, University of Pennsylvania and a former Student, Achimota School, has noted the challenges associated with SHS students keeping their hair.
According to Tyrone Iras Marhguy, he is not denying the challenges associated with SHS students keeping their hair, but obstacles shouldn’t excuse inaction.
Tyrone Iras Marhguy highlighted that some changes must come gradually.
His comments come following the growing debate on the strict directive on approved hairstyles for Senior High School students across the country.
In a long write-up on X, he wrote, “I understand the diverse views on whether we should keep our hair. I also get the fears: beauty competition among students and maintenance challenges, as my good friend Frederick Arkoh also pointed out. He told anecdotal scenes when @AchimotaSchool briefly allowed sneakers; it was a mess! Soon, classrooms filled with flashing red-green-blue shoes and rivalry until Motown rightfully demanded the familiar “Achimota” sandals.
However, these real challenges were summarized as “We are moulding character so that we won’t tolerate long hair.” Then came a straw man about beauty pageants and the slippery claim that keeping hair would somehow lead to no shoes, then no clothes, no school, no education, and finally, no Ghana”.
He added, “I’m not denying its challenges, but obstacles shouldn’t excuse inaction. None of us will have air in our lungs in 2325, but will future lads and lasses still shave their heads in the name of “moulding character”? Moulded into what, exactly? If shorter hair means better character, then no hair must mean perfection; it’s a conversation for another day.
Some changes must come gradually, but they begin with acknowledgement. After the first sem at the @Penn, I remember my silent frustration with my WASSCE Science (Elective ICT) curriculum. I thought I had a modern background, but it was QBasic 64, a useful yet relic beneath modern demands. Yet it remains, while Python is barely taught. Maybe it is a lack of infrastructure (I thought), but you don’t need GPUs and supercomputers to learn Python or C programming at school? That conversation may soon be visited, and if faulty, revised.
If we forbid discussion about our problems, we only preserve them”.
Meanwhile, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, has appealed to parents to cooperate with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to enforce the hairstyle rules in Senior High Schools (SHS).
The Education Minister highlighted that the strict directive on approved hairstyles for Senior High School students is aimed at promoting uniformity, discipline and equity among students.
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) in Accra, on Monday, October 27, Haruna Iddrisu stated, “After a certain age, when they get into tertiary institutions, they are free to wear what kind of hairstyle they want, but not at the basic, secondary level.
“Therefore, I demand the cooperation and support of parents for the GES to strictly and religiously enforce this directive”.
“It’s for the purpose of uniformity. And as I indicated, if we give in to hair, tomorrow it will be shoe, the kind of shoe to wear or not to wear,” he said.
See the post below:
I'm not denying the challenges associated with SHS students keeping their hair, but… – Tyrone Iras Marhguy (Computer Engineering Student, University of Pennsylvania/Former Student, Achimota School)#GHOneNews #EIBNetwork#GHOneTV #NewsAlert pic.twitter.com/fS5CI4oILg
— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) October 27, 2025