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• The hijab in schools

  August 15, 2008 @ 12:12 pm | by Bryan

  

  A decision has been made concerning the wearing of the hijab in schools. Minister of State for Integration, Conor Lenihan, has decided that the government will not issue a directive on the subject. Having sought the advice of thousands of school principals, the minister found that “The overwhelming evidence is that it [the hijab] is not an issue in schools.” Schools will get to decide for themselves.

  My first reaction is that common sense has prevailed. But I still have two reservations. The first one has to do with the fall-out of this decision. What happens if a school decides that it will not permit students to wear the headscarf? Won’t that school be open to charges of discrimination? At some point, the government or courts may be forced to make a firmer decision.

  On the other hand, I agree that a headscarf is a non-issue. Which leads me to my second reservation. Are the underlying concerns surrounding this debate being investigated and addressed? Both Fine Gael and the Labour Party wanted to have the hijab banned from schools in order to promote ‘integration’ over ‘multiculturalism’. It would be a shame if this opportunity, to thrash out what those terms actually mean and how best to go about achieve the desired end, was lost.
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22 Comments »
1.
August 15, 2008
3:18 pm
Bryan, I am delighted with this decision because it means that common sense can be used - unlike the decision last week where the DES appeals committee ruled that an all boys’ school in Cork MUST enroll the girl whose application was declined!
Maddness!
On her parents’ insistence on “equality” (hah!) between the sexes, will she now have to use the same toilet facilities? PE changing room and showering facilities as the boys? Sure, we are all “equal”, right?
Or, does an already cash-strapped school have to pay to install special/separate hygeine facilities for this one female student?
What of the rights of the 400 boys in the school? Research shows that boys are distracted in the presence of girls and their grades suffer as a result.
How will this 12 year old girl cope with the considerable “rough-and-tumble” world of boys aged 12 to 18?
As a parent of one boy and one girl myself, I find this bizarre - both the ruling and the original application and appeal.
After that, God only knows what might be forced upon schools next;the hijab is the least of our worries now.
Comment by Tim
2.
August 15, 2008
4:11 pm
I agree entirely with Tim. Common sense went out the door with the DES appeals committee. The decision regarding the hijab is to be welcomed. Although it is a cop out in the sense that it protects the government from having to become embroiled in sensitive debate over multiculturalism, yet it seems inevitable a situation will arise again in some school thereby requiring a court ruling. On a personal level women should be allowed wear the hijab if that is their preference. If a community of Sikhs emerge in Ireland will they be banned from wearing turbans, should rastafarians hide their dreadlocks? The potential banning of the hijab in schools of all places strikes me as ironic. Schools should be places of education; education in the broad sense of the word.
Comment by edel
3.
August 15, 2008
4:27 pm
Sounds like a cop out on the part of the government to me, Bryan. Allowing the hijab in schools doesn’t bother me one way or another but I would prefer if all schooling was done in a secular environment.
This is a bit of a pipedream in Ireland at the moment as a huge number of schools are aligned to a Christian denomination. However, a step in that direction could have been started by the government taking a stronger stance.
Comment by Brock Landers
4.
August 15, 2008
5:02 pm
Tim & Edel - I agree that there are bigger issues facing the education system than whether or not headscarves are worn.
Brock - I don’t know. There are people in the world who believe all sorts of things. I think people might as well find out a bit about those beliefs when they are young.
Having said that, I think parents should be able to opt their children out any religious instruction they are not happy with.
Comment by Bryan
5.
August 15, 2008
11:28 pm
Bryan, I must say “Thank you, Conor Lenehan, for listening to the frontline workers you consulted and making a good decision.”
He has shown a rare engagement/response skill, I think. We need the same from more politicians.
Comment by Tim
6.
August 16, 2008
9:04 am
The cop out by the State is cowardly. What will these people be asking for next? Separate toilets and changing facilities? A prayer room perhaps?
Ireland is Irish and these foreigners who immigrate should be made to live by Irish law and according to Irish customs.
Comment by Brian P O Cinneide
7.
August 16, 2008
6:07 pm
“Ireland is Irish and these foreigners who immigrate should be made to live by Irish law and according to Irish customs.”
Enter the colourful caricature of the Catholic peasant farmer. Or as Tayto put it ‘there’s always one’. Modern day Ireland is somewhat different to that which the Fenians began their fight for. Ireland has made great progress in recent times and the diversification of its society has proved largely beneficial.
For some reason, Mr O Cinneide believes that immigrants wish to break the law? How very strange. I am sure there are some criminals but what of these Irish customs? Besides the healthy consumption of alcoholic beverages one would be hard pressed to come to any clear agreement on what these are. Surely not a fond sense of welcoming and generosity? But then there are many Irish who don’t drink alcohol either. What are these customs of which you refer to?
I await my impending education with rapt attention.
Comment by Umar Ahmed
8.
August 16, 2008
8:50 pm
Those of you who don’t consider allowing the wearing of the hijab an important issue - will you feel the same way when they ask to implement shariah and threaten to behead anyone criticiizing islam. It begins with small steps.
Comment by Garthe Kindler
9.
August 17, 2008
12:29 am
Like I said above: since a boys’ school can be forced to accept a girl despite its ethos, the hijab is the least of our worries, Garthe.
Everything I said in my original posting is now up for grabs.
Comment by Tim
10.
August 17, 2008
4:33 pm
This was a decision to take no decision.
Does this mean that non-muslim women can wear scarves on their heads during school? It could become the new expression of fashion !!
Comment by Siobhan L
11.
August 17, 2008
5:04 pm
Brian - I think letting Muslims wear a religiously significant headscarf is gracious and costs the rest of the country nothing. While the bulk of the burden of integration rests on the shoulders of the immigrant, small gestures like this lighten the load.
Umar - You have a point. I bet an 18 year old in inner city Dublin and an 80year old on a farm in Cork will have very different take on what Irish culture means.
Garthe - Seriously? You don’t actually believe that, do you? How can someone be smart enough to construct a sentence and still believe something like that?
If you really think it is a bad idea that the hijab is worn in schools, please give a serious reason. ‘Sharia is coming!’ is just as preposterous as ‘The sky is falling!’
Tim - True.
Siobhan - …that’s an idea
Comment by Bryan
12.
August 21, 2008
7:26 am
When people call for a ‘secular environment’ in schools what do they mean? Are they saying that the wearing of hijab is tantamount to proselytizing? Is there any evidence for this? Couldn’t the absence of hijab be considered an ideological affiliation and therefore equally open to charges of proselytising? Semiotic symbolism aside, the hijab is no more a ‘conversion’ tool than tattoos, eyeliner, pink socks, nail varnish etc. Why should one ideology be universalised while another is privatised, who makes such decisions in a democracy?
Comment by Mujaahid
13.
August 21, 2008
12:12 pm
Mujaahid - I think you’re absolutely right. I think the essence of democracy is freedom, and that includes the freedom to worship as one sees fit provided it does not encroach on the freedoms of others. For the life of me, I cannot see how a girl wearing a hijab can encroach on anyone’s freedom. I think complaints about a lack of uniformity a just intolerance in disguise.
Comment by Bryan
14.
August 23, 2008
10:56 am
Bryan, A school is not a democracy, though, and it is a siple matter of sticking to the rules of the uniform in force in the individual school. That is why I am pleased with the Minister’s decision.
Some schools prescribe a uniform; the hijab is not allowed in these.
Some schools do not prescribe a uniform; the hijab can be worn in these.
Parents have the freedom to make their choice of which type of school they send their children to.
All that is required, then, is that they abide by the rules in the school of their CHOICE.
Comment by Tim
15.
August 23, 2008
9:55 pm
When a person goes to prison, they usually give a prisoner a uniform? It is to break their individuality and make them conform. The purpose of a Hijab is the same and, after all women have been through, to subjugate them to a cloth jail cell is true oppression.
Comment by Paulette J
16.
August 24, 2008
12:48 am
Paulette J, I am afraid that the “prison” comparison is unhelpful:
Most people are not encouraged to go to prison; females are encouraged to wear the hijab within Islam.
Most people do not “accept” or “choose to” go to prison; many Islamic females accept or choose to wear the hijab. (They are not all “forced” to wear it.)
Jobs that require the wearing of a uniform ARE “chosen” by the people who accept those jobs.
While schools with uniforms ARE “chosen” by the parents/children, the difference is that the children are required BY LAW to remain in some school until they are 16 years old. They are FORCED to go to school, but have a choice about whether or not to go to one with a uniform.
All they have to do is choose the right one FOR THEM and abide by the rules they CHOSE to accept.
Prison is an entirely different matter.
Comment by Tim
17.
August 24, 2008
3:11 am
Yeah right…..not a prison, yet I quote:
“What are the disadvantages of discarding Hijab?
* Becoming an easy target of anti-social elements.
* Causing great stresses, insecurity and suspicion in the minds of husbands, ultimately disturbing the familial harmony.
* Instigating young people to deviate towards the path of lust and immorality.
* Giving rise to cases of divorce, adultery, rape and illegitimate children.
What are the advantages of observing Hijab?
* Confidence in social participation as human being and not as sexual commodity.
* Guarding one self from the lustful looks of men.
* Not diverting people’s attention from constructive social work.
* Improving the moral character of the society.”
Comment by Paulette J
18.
August 25, 2008
12:22 am
These are opinions, Paulette; not facts.
Suppose some men find the hijab sexy?
Oops!
Comment by Tim
19.
August 25, 2008
2:25 pm
Paulette, I’m with Tim on this one. There are women in Turkey who protest for their right to wear the hijab in schools. I think it’s incredibly presumptive to assume that the majority of the women who wear the headscarf do so under compulsion. It’s like saying Catholic nuns are forced to wear the habit. Surely it is something that is chosen?
Besides, even if someone was to wear it out of ‘peer-pressure’, or even genuine compulsion, it is only a headscarf. Can a woman really be limited by a piece of cloth?
Comment by Bryan
20.
March 30, 2009
5:25 pm
I wear a head scarf out of choice and I completely agree with Bryan, it is a piece of cloth that says nothing about my personality, but just shows my way of life.
Comment by me
21.
March 30, 2009
5:27 pm
Thanks me.
Comment by Bryan
22.
April 21, 2009
3:28 pm
Exactly, I think people think that in most cases wear hijab is mandatory for them, and they actually do not want to use, but there are more cases in which, whether or not mandatory, they choose to wear because they actually want to do so, so the controversy is not as big as we are given to understand.
It is my opinion.
Comment by IBI

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