By Gavin Mackintosh-
A top UK primary school is facing a serious backlash after banning girls under eight from wearing the Islamic Hijab.
A petition against the school’s decision on the Hijab Ban has garnered 8,000 signatures, mostly from Muslims.
St Stephen’s School was rated the best state primary school in the UK following the 2017 Sats results and is guided by a very ambitious and bright head teacher in Neena Lall .
Under her authority, the staff has told parents their children should not fast during the school day in the month of Ramadan, in a controversial move bound to raise objections from staunch Muslims. The restriction put on Muslim children to fast in accordance with their religion has been added to a ban on the Hijab for young children.
St.Stephen’s head of governors, Arif Qawi, says clerics have advised pupils should only fast once they reach puberty. Children at age eight or nine who fast is not something the privately educated Lall is prepared to tolerate. Lall has set very high standards for her pupils and wants them feeling strong and focused, instead of facing the potential of physical weakness that fasting can cause. Fasting is a religious practice in which followers sacrifice food in exchange for private time with their God. Muslims hold the month of Ramadan every year, but it is debatable whether children as young as eight or nine years of age should be forced to fast. My gut instinct is that they should not because of their young age, especially not during schooling hours.
Qawi has called for official guidance on both fronts from the Department for Education. The school has not banned fasting outright but “encouraged” children to practice it outside of school. Some guidance has been put on St Stephen’s’ website where it lists “a plain, small, shoulder-length slip on white headscarf” as optional for girls in Year 3 or above. The idea of integrating these young children into British society is a positive value the school wants to promote, but it is at odds with the feelings and convictions of Muslims. Muslim adults may argue that there is nothing none British about being a Muslim, and they want to raise their children up as British Muslims. At the same time, the school may logically feel that these young children may distance themselves from being British if they consider being Muslim as a separate thing
The petition is strong in its disapproval of the ban. The strong petition’s website reads:
“Freedom of expression is a must regardless of age,” it says on the petition’s webpage, which was started by Hafsah Dabiri.
“The hijab represents a choice and to remove it is the very oppression which actors claim to prevent,” it adds.
“It’s not a request or a plea, it’s a demand.”
The school’s policy is against the UN Convention on Human Rights, it adds.
In the interview, she said that a few years ago she asked the children to put their hands up if they thought they were British. “Very few,” said they did. This is one that requires more thought and dialogue.