Hong Kong, student loses appeal against the obligation to cut short hair as a man: “I am distressed”

The Hong Kong High Court rejected the appeal of a student who disobeyed his high school rules that required him to cut his hair as a man. To the 17-year-old boy, the newspaper reports South China Morning Posthe had been asked to choose between cutting off the ponytail he wore or being confined to the infirmary.
From April to June last year, the disobedient student was therefore prohibited from entering the classroom, attending physical education classes and socializing with his classmates, attending most of the remote lessons via a tablet.
Oscar Wong Wing-hei – this is the name of the boy, who suffers from autism spectrum disorders – said that the punishment further aggravated his difficulties in socializing. “I felt distressed. The only chance I had to see my schoolmates was when I went to the bathroom,” she said.
The student also said he was inspired by the former opposition MP Leung Kwok-hungnicknamed “Long Hair”, who denounced the prison authorities after having had to cut his hair when he was in prison in 2014. The boy has been making headlines since May 2021 when he filed a complaint with the Commission for Equal Hong Kong’s opportunity against school regulations, invoking alleged discrimination against female students, and asked his father to be assisted by a lawyer to initiate a civil lawsuit against the school.
The student, after the defeat in court, explained to the Hong Kong newspaper that the judge affirmed his opposition to the duplication of the lawsuits, as the Equal Opportunities Commission is still investigating his case. The High Court therefore dismissed their appeal in the closed-door hearing.
Many schools in the former British colony maintain rules preventing male students from cutting their hair so that it does not cover the eyebrows and does not touch the shirt collar.