2023-09-12 10:52:45
The Egyptian government announced a ban on the wearing of the niqab, which covers the face, in schools from the start of the term on September 30.
The Minister of Education, Reda Hegazy, made the announcement on Monday September 11, specifying that students would still have the right to choose whether they want to wear the headscarf but insisting that it should not cover their face .
He also said that the child’s guardian must be aware of their choice and this choice must be made without any external pressure.
Monday, the government newspaper Akhbar al-Youm published the new decree on school uniforms which notably prohibits primary and secondary students from “covering their faces”.
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“The role of teachers of Arabic language, religious education and social and psychological education will be to psychologically prepare students to implement the ministry’s decision with all possible kindness and gentleness, taking into account the psychological state of the students and their age level,” he said in a press release.
For many years, the wearing of the niqab in schools in Egypt has been debated.
The garment has been worn by Muslim women for religious reasons across the world for centuries.
Some people in Egypt associate the niqab with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group banned as a “terrorist organization” since 2013, the same year the elected Muslim Brotherhood-backed government was overthrown in a military coup.
Human rights groups argue that the Egyptian Constitution protects religious freedoms and that restricting the niqab constitutes a violation of civil liberties.
A number of public and private institutions in Egypt already ban the niqab.
Cairo University forbidden teaching staff have been required to wear face coverings since 2015, a rule that was upheld by an Egyptian court in 2020.
Translated from English (original).
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