Britain moves against hijab in schools

Britain’s top schools monitoring authority has instructed inspectors to mark down institutions where face covering veils such as hijab are hampering learning.

This comes days after Prime Minister, David Cameron, advocated the removal of face coverings at educational institutions.

The Head of the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Schools, Sir. Michael Wilshaw, instructed his inspectors to mark down institutions if they judged the wearing of the veil was acting as a barrier to learning and to positive social interaction.

He said he was in full support of “school and college leaders who decide to take a stand against the inappropriate wearing of the veil.”

In a statement, he said, “The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are right to give their backing to schools and other institutions which insist on removing face coverings when it makes sense to do so.

“I am concerned that some heads and principals who are trying to restrict the wearing of the full veil in certain circumstances are coming under pressure from others to relax their policy. I want to assure these leaders that they can rely on my full backing for the stance they are taking.

“I have also made it clear to my inspectors that where leaders are condoning the wearing of the face veil by staff members or by pupils when this is clearly hindering communication and effective teaching, they should give consideration to judging the school as inadequate.”

Wishaw said he was determined to ensure that discrimination, including on the grounds of gender, had no place in classrooms.

“We want our schools, whether faith-based schools or non-faith schools, to prepare their pupils equally for life in the 21st Century Britain. We need to be confident our children’s education and future prospects are not being harmed in any way,” he said.

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