Peru's President Keiko Fujimori announced new discipline rules for public schools on October 12, 2026, banning makeup, nail polish and dyed hair, requiring short hair for boys, and limiting skirt length. The rules, which also restore student expulsions, follow public anger over a school violence case in September and have drawn criticism from opposition lawmakers and a sociologist.
New Rules for Peru's Public Schools
On October 12, 2026, President Keiko Fujimori and Education Minister José Antonio Chang presented new conduct guidelines for public primary and secondary schools, according to Primicias and El Tiempo. The rules ban makeup and nail polish for all students, require boys to wear short hair, forbid dyeing hair, and state that uniform skirts must have an "appropriate" length.
Los hombrecitos (deben) venir con el pelo corto. Está totalmente prohibido pintarse el pelo o maquillarse — "Little men must come with short hair. It is totally forbidden to dye your hair or wear makeup."
— Keiko Fujimori, President of Peru, quoted by Infobae
New school conduct rules announced in Peru (October 12, 2026)
Area
New rule
Hair
Boys must wear short hair; dyeing hair is banned for all students
Makeup and nails
Makeup and nail polish are banned for all students
Uniform
Skirts must meet an "appropriate" length
Phones/devices
Banned in classrooms unless a teacher authorizes use
Discipline
Expulsion restored for serious or repeated violent conduct
According to Primicias, El Tiempo and El Universal, the guidelines apply to all public schools, while private schools can set their own appearance standards. Breitbart reported that the Education Ministry calls the package the "Guidelines for School Discipline Management" and that it includes a rule under which three suspensions within a year can lead to expulsion. Officials said the draft would first go through a public-comment period, which Breitbart put at 15 days, before taking effect; no exact start date has been confirmed.
Why the Rules Were Announced Now
Primicias, Breitbart and El Universal linked the announcement to public anger after a September 15 case at a Lima school, in which a 16-year-old student reported having been assaulted by classmates on a school bus. A Lima court ordered four months of pretrial detention for six adolescents, El Universal reported. The allegations have not resulted in a final court ruling, and no further identifying details about those involved have been reported.
El Tiempo and Primicias reported that officials framed the new code as a response to bullying, sexual harassment and violence in schools more broadly, saying serious cases of bullying or harassment would be referred to prosecutors and police rather than handled only within schools.
Reactions and Criticism
According to Infobae, lawmakers Ruth Luque and Mirtha Vásquez, along with lawyer Josefina Miró Quesada, questioned whether schooling was now being judged by students' hair length, makeup or nail polish rather than by educational quality.
RT's Spanish-language service reported similar criticism from Senator Ruth Luque, who asked whether education was now measured by hair length, makeup or painted nails, and from sociologist Marta Martínez, who said the rules amount to controlling schoolgirls' bodies without, in her view, a rights-based approach.
Comparison With El Salvador and Background on Fujimori
Infobae and RT both compared the Peruvian measures to school discipline rules introduced in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele, which similarly required short hair and neat uniforms as part of a broader anti-gang strategy. Infobae reported that Fujimori was expected to make an official visit to El Salvador later in October, including a tour of the country's large-capacity prison.
Fujimori, who leads the Popular Force party, was inaugurated on July 28, 2026, after narrowly winning the June 7 runoff against Roberto Sánchez by 49,641 votes, 50.13% to 49.87%, according to Wikipedia's sourced summary of the official results. She is Peru's first directly elected woman president; Dina Boluarte had earlier held the office after her predecessor's removal. Fujimori's father, Alberto Fujimori, was president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.
Questions
What exactly did Peru's government ban in public schools?
Officials banned makeup and nail polish for all students, dyed hair, and set a short-hair requirement for boys, while also limiting uniform skirt length, according to Primicias, El Tiempo and El Universal.
Do the new rules apply to private schools too?
No. Primicias and El Universal reported the guidelines apply to public schools; private schools can set their own appearance standards.
When do the rules take effect?
No exact date has been confirmed. Officials said the draft would go through a public-comment period, which Breitbart reported as 15 days, before entering into force.
Why did the government introduce these rules now?
The announcement follows public anger over a September 15 case in Lima in which a 16-year-old student said she was assaulted by classmates on a school bus; a Lima court ordered four months of pretrial detention for six adolescents, according to Primicias, Breitbart and El Universal.
Has the policy faced criticism?
Yes. According to Infobae, lawmakers Ruth Luque and Mirtha Vásquez and lawyer Josefina Miró Quesada questioned judging education by hair length, makeup or nail polish, and RT's Spanish-language service reported that sociologist Marta Martínez said the rules control schoolgirls' bodies without a rights-based approach.
How the world is telling it
SpanishLatin American outlets such as Infobae, El Tiempo and RT en Español framed the announcement largely through comparison with Nayib Bukele's school discipline policies in El Salvador, and gave space to criticism from lawmakers and a sociologist who said the rules focus on students' appearance rather than on bullying or school violence.
EnglishU.S. outlet Breitbart covered the announcement as part of a 'conservative overhaul' of school discipline in Peru, emphasizing the reinstatement of expulsions and a new three-strike suspension system, with comparatively less attention to domestic criticism of the policy.
This piece was prepared with artificial intelligence and passed an automated source check before publication. If you see an error, ask for a correction. Request a correction or reply · How we make this
California Governor Gavin Newsom has endorsed Proposition 42, a November ballot measure funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin that would cancel the state's proposed one-time "billionaire tax" and ban future wealth taxes. The endorsement puts Newsom at odds with the California Democratic Party and labor unions that back Proposition 40, the original wealth-tax measure.
Katie Zacharia took the podium for the first time as White House press secretary on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. She announced that the administration had asked Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign and outlined an expanded midterm campaign schedule for President Trump.
Spain's Supreme Court has upheld a suspension that stops 163,020 people who gained Spanish nationality under the "Ley de Nietos" from voting in the November 29, 2026 general election. The court rejected an appeal by the State Attorney's Office, ruling that preserving the accuracy of the electoral register takes precedence, for now, over the individual right to vote for those affected.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro leads President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by four to six points in the two polls released after Brazil's October 4 first round, ahead of the October 25 runoff. Both the Datafolha and AtlasIntel surveys put Flávio's advantage outside the margin of error, reversing pre-first-round polling that had shown the two men essentially tied.
