There seems to be an active push to ban Muslim women from religious dress. In Egypt, the government has announced a ban on the wearing of the niqab – the face covering in schools, from the beginning of the next term, starting the 30th September.
Cairo’s Education Minister Reda Hegazy made the announcement yesterday, adding that students would still have the right to choose whether to wear a headscarf, but insisted that their faces not be covered.
Hegazy adds that it’s important that the child’s guardian is aware of their choice to cover up or not and not be made without any external pressures. For many years, there has been an ongoing debate over the wearing of the niqab in schools.
Some associate it with the Muslim Brotherhood. A group that was banned and labelled as a terrorist organization since 2013.
However, the education ministry’s decision has garnered mixed reactions, with rights groups arguing that the Egyptian constitution protects religious freedoms and restricting the niqab is a violation of civil liberties.
