In El Salvador, principals are now standing at school gates to personally greet students — and inspect their haircuts and uniforms. The directive comes from President Nayib Bukele’s new education minister, Karla Trigueros, an Army captain and physician who has vowed to bring discipline back to classrooms once seen as gang recruitment grounds.

Trigueros’ memo orders principals to enforce rules on neat uniforms, “appropriate” haircuts, and formal greetings, warning that failure to comply would be considered a serious administrative offense. Though these standards already existed, they were rarely enforced. The new push quickly filled barbershops across the country as students lined up for high-and-tight cuts, with many posting their transformations online.

The initiative has drawn widespread support from parents, who link the move to Bukele’s broader crackdown on gangs, which has led to more than 88,000 arrests. “That’s how you straighten them out from a young age,” said one mother outside a San Salvador school. Teachers’ unions have also voiced cautious support, though they stress the need for legal adjustments to protect educators imposing discipline.

Critics, however, say the policy could burden low-income families who struggle to afford uniforms or barbers. Human rights lawyer Jayme Magaña urged Trigueros to “dress like a civilian” and consider families without access to basic resources. Bukele, for his part, brushed off criticism, posting a video of students lining up for autographs from the minister and mocking what he called “haters.”

For Bukele, who has traded his signature baseball caps for a more formal look in his second term, the move is part of a bigger mission. “To build the El Salvador we dream of,” he wrote, “we must completely transform our educational system.”