Mother outraged after teacher cuts off son’s hair

A teacher at a Limassol high school was accused of forcibly cutting a student’s hair, it emerged on Friday.

According to reports, the incident happened at the start of the school year when the student went to the school office to request permission to enter a lesson.

The deputy head told the student to sit down, pulled out scissors, and began chopping the boy’s hair without warning, ignoring protests by the terrified student, according to Politis.

The incident was officially reported by the child’s mother on September 14, who charged that the teacher had acted inappropriately and without parental consent.

Despite her son putting his hands on his head to protect himself and begging her to stop, the mother said, the teacher continued cutting and throwing tufts of the boy’s hair into the bin until the job was done.

Thereafter, she marched the child over to the principal to show off her work, according to the mother.

The indignant parent said she had sent letters about the incident to the Limassol district office, the ministry of education, and the secondary school administration, without result, according to media reports.

President of the secondary parents’ association Loizos Constantinou confirmed the incident, saying that while there are school regulations about the length of students’ hair the school mishandled the situation by failing to provide the student with a prior warning.

The education ministry has also since responded to state that the matter is being handled by the school administration.

Meanwhile, Commissioner for the Protection of Children’s Rights Despo Michaelidou highlighted the outdated absurdity of the situation.

“It is unacceptable that schools in Cyprus are still preoccupied with children’s hair,” the commissioner said.