The Jharkhand government is going to give haircuts to students in state-run schools.

'School principals have been directed to hire part-time barbers to give the students haircuts in the schools. There are many poor students with long hair as their parents are unable to take them to barbers,' said Bandhu Tirkey, the state's human resource development minister.

He said: 'The barbers will be available in school for at least three days every week.'

To implement the decision, 30,000-40,000 barbers will be needed as there are over 16,000 primary, middle and high schools in the state.

The barbers are happy with the decision. 'We welcome the decision. It will give employment to barbers and at the same time help the poor children of the state,' said Gyan Thakur, a barber.

The state's HRD department is introducing several schemes to check school dropouts.

Earlier, Tirkey had announced poor students would have their birthdays celebrated in school.

'We have to make education attractive for the students and reduce the burden of the parents. Jharkhand is one of the backward states of the country and we need to improve literacy rate. Caring for poor students can help in improving the literacy rate,' he said.

In Jharkhand, the literacy rate is 54 percent, compared to the national average of 65 percent.