SAN SALVADOR — Students filing into public schools across El Salvador on Tuesday encountered a redesigned school environment: stricter dress codes, enforced short haircuts for boys and unadorned, polished footwear for all, part of an Education Ministry campaign officials say is meant to curb gang influence inside classrooms.

Minister of Education Karla Trigueros, flanked by school directors and municipal officials, visited a downtown San Salvador primary where she inspected student uniforms and praised teachers for implementing what she described as “preventive measures that restore dignity and safety to our schools.” “We are committed to protecting children from the symbols and practices that gangs use to recruit,” she told reporters, framing the policy as a public-safety priority rather than a disciplinary fad.

The new rules, circulated in a ministerial directive released Monday, bar distinctive hairstyles, colored shoelaces, extravagant jewelry and backpacks with graphic prints. Principals have been instructed to enforce compliance through inspections at school entrances and to report persistent noncompliance to district offices; repeated violations may trigger suspension under the ministry’s disciplinary code.

The measures are the latest salvo in a security strategy that has made El Salvador a global talking point. Since 2022, President Nayib Bukele’s administration has pursued sweeping anti-gang operations under a prolonged state of emergency that has produced dramatic declines in homicide statistics, according to official records, but has also led to mass detentions, curtailed civil liberties and repeated criticism from international human rights bodies.

Human rights advocates say the haircut-and-shoes policy risks criminalizing poverty and cultural expression. “Targeting a child’s appearance is a blunt instrument that can stigmatize entire communities,” said Ana Morales, a child-rights lawyer based in San Salvador. “We have seen how symbolic markers become grounds for exclusion; that trend should worry parents and diplomats alike.”

Parents’ reactions were mixed. Maria López, whose 14-year-old son attends the school Trigueros visited, said she understood the intent but worried about the costs. “We are poor. Getting constant haircuts and new shoes is another expense,” she said. A teacher at the same school, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said enforcement has already created tense moments at morning gates when students are turned away for dress infractions.

International institutions have watched Bukele’s policies closely. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and United Nations child-rights specialists previously warned that broad security measures must not infringe on children’s rights to education and non-discrimination. Lawyers and advocacy groups say the new directives could be challenged in Salvadoran courts for lack of proportionality and failure to address root causes of gang recruitment—poverty, social exclusion and limited opportunities.

For the government, the measures serve a domestic political narrative of order and modernization, and they resonate with segments of a population that have prioritized safety after years of gang violence. For diplomats and rights monitors, they provide another focal point for assessing whether a securitized approach will continue to prioritize short-term control over longer-term social remedies.

The Education Ministry said it would convene community forums next week to explain the new rules and offer guidance on implementation. Whether consultations will alleviate parental concerns or intensify legal challenges remains to be seen, but the policy has already amplified a debate over where public safety ends and individual freedoms begin in a country still reckoning with the legacy of gang violence and the international scrutiny that accompanies its response.