AFP | 2025-09-02

Public schools in El Salvador on September 1 began enforcing a new disciplinary code that requires students to say "please" and "thank you" and to wear "appropriate" conservative haircuts.

The new regulations bring iron-fisted President Nayib Bukele's anti-gang crackdown into the classroom.

Implemented by his new education minister, Karla Trigueros, an army officer who wears camouflage, the "school courtesy" rules require students to greet the teacher on entering the classroom, say "please" when requesting something, and express gratitude.

Shoes must be polished, uniforms must be spick and span and boys must keep their hair short -- no quiffs, mullets or other embellishments -- under the rules announced by Trigueros last month.

Sonia Guerrero, a teacher at Jaime Francisco Lopez National Institute in the capital San Salvador, hailed the new rules as "very good" for both students and teachers.

Trigueros has warned that principals who do not enforce the new rules will be sanctioned.

Last week, she dismissed the director and deputy director of a high school in San Salvador for appearing in an old video shared by Bukele on X, in which students from the school are seen making gang signs with their hands.

Bukele, who began a second presidential term in June 2024, claims to have made El Salvador "the safest country in the world."

His harsh crackdown on criminal groups has led to a drastic drop in the homicide rate, making him popular at home.