Stavropol bans Muslim headscarves in schools

[Larry1]

Russia Beyond the Headlines gives this report:

North Caucasus city bans headscarves in schools

The regional Court of Stavropol, home to a considerable Muslim community, adopted last week a ban on hijabs. Students in the North Caucasian city will no longer be allowed to wear Muslim headscarves at school.

On July 10 the Russian Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Stavropol Region government’s decree, which bans Muslim girls from wearing traditional headscarves (commonly referred to as hijabs) to school. The ruling rejected a complaint filed by a group of citizens, who had asked to pronounce the decree illegal and void. On the one hand, freedom of faith has been upheld, but, on the other, the need for maintaining the secular nature of the state and its institutions has been affirmed.
“The decision of the Stavropol Territory Court on the legality of the regional government’s decree has been left unchanged, and the appeal has been rejected,” said Supreme Court Justice Valentin Pirozhkov, reading out the ruling.

The conflict started back in October 2012, at a rural school in the Kara-Tyuba village in Stavropol Region, where the principal prohibited female students from wearing Islamic headscarves. The girls were advised to replace them with regular headscarves, but their parents refused and filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office. The debate escalated to the federal level. As a result, President Vladimir Putin spoke against wearing hijabs to school and supported the idea of reintroducing school uniforms.

Ismail Berdiyev, chairman of the Coordinating Center of North Caucasus Muslims, explains that people often confuse the hijab [a baggy veil that covers a woman’s entire body] and the headscarf: “Our women don’t wear hijabs, they wear a special kind of headscarf. The hijab covers the entire face, leaving only the eyes visible. Not only can they be banned—they must be banned. Girls of full legal age must wear a headscarf, but schoolchildren are not required to wear them.”

Berdiyev adds that, besides the headscarves, there are no other special requirements for Islamic clothing. “For example, highlanders from the Caucasus used to be required to wear a dagger, and that’s something that should have been banned—but nobody wears them anymore. Men must cover their body from navel down to the knees. Women can have their face, hands and feet uncovered,” says Berdiyev.

Bishop Sergei Ryakhovsky, chairman of the Russian Evangelical (Pentecostal) Association and co-chairman of the Advisory Council of Protestant Churches in Russia, agrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling and believes that the secular nature of the state should not be challenged. “If every respected religion started promoting its clothing principles in public schools, the state’s secular foundation would be eroded,” he is quoted by RBTH as saying. “This ruling was awaited with anticipation in other regions, and, had it been different or less definitive, various interpretations would likely have arisen.”
“We would like to observe society’s response to this issue, using Stavropol Region as an example,” the bishop says. “This is a unique region where an attempt is being made at changing the cultural way of life, the cultural code. The Supreme Court ruling was totally fair. Perhaps we should start thinking about a unified school uniform.”

“Representatives of the Muslim faith argue quite reasonably in favor of wearing headscarves. So, if they have certain distinctive features in their clothing, what are other religious communities to do? What should Protestants that wear secular clothes do? Or what if Buddhists or Krishnas started going to school in their specific clothing? We have to admit that hijabs stand out the most,” says Ryakhovsky, adding that everyone was free to wear traditional clothing at home, at a place of worship, in the street or at Sunday school.

The Supreme Court’s ruling took Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the Sova Center for human rights, by surprise. “Many girls wear this kind of clothing all around the country, but this reaction was related to the associations that such religious signs evoke in that particular region. Apparently, Stavropol Region residents are scared by the number of Muslims. Now it’s the headscarf, and, before you know it, they will be scared of something else,” the expert says.

According to Verkhovsky, it would have made sense to single out the headscarf if a school uniform had been mandated. “How exactly are the Ministry of Education and the Prosecutor’s Office supposed to distinguish between a religious and a secular headscarf? What if a girl comes to school wearing a traditional Orthodox Christian headscarf tied in a knot under her chin? What if somebody didn’t like a Jewish skullcap or short pants? For instance, Salafi Muslims wear short pants, and people in some places in Dagestan are not happy about it,” he says.

Verkhovsky is convinced that religious children can and must attend secular schools. “Under such circumstances, the kids will probably be taken out of school, and we will deprive them of a normal education. Plus, this may lead to such children being pushed back into a kind of ghetto, which is always a bad idea. Kids with unconventional views must be integrated in the common environment,” says the expert.

In the wake of the announcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling, similar requirements for the appearance of schoolchildren have already been introduced in several other regions, including Bashkortostan, Adygeya and Dagestan.

http://rbth.ru/society/2013/07/17/north_caucasus_city_bans_headscarves_in_schools_28137.html

What are your thoughts: is the government's action reasonable or unreasonable?

[mendeleyev]

In a positive way, Russian schools (and Ukrainian) resemble the USA of the pre-1960s when it was possible to elect for religious classes and events each week. Many schools have a priest who arrives once weekly for optional religion class and once weekly a Muslim cleric arrives for the same type of optional instruction. Children are given the opportunity but can elect not to attend without negative consequences as other electives are available for that hour. The courts have determined this to be a positive way to teach values and good morals without violating the beliefs of other faiths or of non-believers and to maintain the secular mission of the school system.

In the republics mentioned, not all adult women wear a full hijab which covers her face completely except for the eyes. Orthodox women often wear scarfs in public and in these republics it is a way to "fit in" for either religion without marking yourself as non-Muslim.

The schools in Russia, just like the schools in France, have not banned scarfs which simply fit over part of the head, but have banned the hijabs which cover the entire face leaving only two openings for eyes.

Unfortunately the full facial covering for girls was being demanded by those interested in promoting Sharia law and radical Islam. The Supreme Court has acted wisely in not allowing the schools to be taken over by those who would promote the idea that "my version of Islam is better and more pure than your Islam."

[OlgaH]

In a positive way, Russian schools (and Ukrainian) resemble the USA of the pre-1960s when it was possible to elect for religious classes and events each week. Many schools have a priest who arrives once weekly for optional religion class and once weekly a Muslim cleric arrives for the same type of optional instruction. Children are given the opportunity but can elect not to attend without negative consequences as other electives are available for that hour. The courts have determined this to be a positive way to teach values and good morals without violating the beliefs of other faiths or of non-believers and to maintain the secular mission of the school system.

mendeleyev, if you read the Russian parents forum and comments unfortunately it is not so smooth and very often there is no opportunity to elect... it is compulsory ...


http://fulledu.ru/school/news/v-shkolah-hotyat-otkazatsya-ot-izucheniya-osnov-religii.html

[GQBlues]

Not sure if banning headscarves is a wise idea considering headscarves by themselves is no different than babushkas.


Now the hijab is an entirely whole other issue, but still, I don't see the harm in a gal wearing it in class if that is a vital aspect of her faith.

[Ranetka]

Not sure if banning headscarves is a wise idea considering headscarves by themselves is no different than babushkas.


Now the hijab is an entirely whole other issue, but still, I don't see the harm in a gal wearing it in class if that is a vital aspect of her faith.

This is the region where terrorist acts happens. Someone ( a slim built man) wearing a hijab can pretend to be a high school student.

[Hammer2722]

This is the region where terrorist acts happens. Someone ( a slim built man) wearing a hijab can pretend to be a high school student.

A very good point!

[GQBlues]

This is the region where terrorist acts happens. Someone ( a slim built man) wearing a hijab can pretend to be a high school student.

True. I can understand that POV, Ranetka. Were it not for the Black Widows, I may even agree the ban have justifiable cause. But sadly our global community is being re-defined both by the very few who wants to destroy the many, and the 'many' who wants to undermine the very few.

[mendeleyev]

Head scarfs are allowed and this is something common to both Muslim and Orthodox females. The full facial coverings are being pushed by a extreme brand of Islam that wants all Muslim girls to be required to wear them, even branches of Islam that normally don't wear full facial coverings.

The court ruling allows head scarfs to be worn but protects school age girls from being forced to wear full head and facial coverings.