LONDON – The decision of a secondary school in north-west England to introduce hijab as part of pupils’ uniform has sparked controversy, with some praising the move as integrating Muslim students and others blaming the school for failing to negotiate the move with Muslim parents and pupils.
“Unfortunately, there was very little consultation by parents or the girls attending the school. Consequently, a scarf designed by the school has been created,” an online petition, signed by 150 people protesting the new move, was cited by PTI news agency.
“It is very tight and in some cases too short as some of the girls have long hair and so it defeats the object to wear it,” the petition reads.
The decision to include hijab in school uniform was issued recently by Sir John Thursby Community College in Burnley.
The move has come under fire from some Muslim parents and pupils, who feel the uniform hijabs are uncomfortable and not modest enough.
The decision was defended by headmaster David Burton who wrote to parents to defend the policy and dismiss suggestions that the school is against headscarves as untrue.
“We are sorry that there have been suggestions that the school is against headscarves. This is not true. We respect fully the wishes of girls to wear a headscarf and we always have done,” he said.
“Students, staff and parents had expressed some concerns that some students were not wearing headscarves correctly although the rules had not changed on headscarves,” Burton said.
“We looked towards changing the uniform policy to include a uniform headscarf as we were aware that a change is needed to be considered. We started a consultation process in September and we are still collecting the views of parents. Once we have collected these views we will be discussing them with governors,” he added.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.
Before the new policy, schoolgirls wanting to wear a headscarf were permitted to choose their own style as long as it was black.
The same rule applies at other secondary schools in the Lancashire area, which has a significant Muslim population.