Education minister says students can wear hijab but are no longer allowed to use face veils

The Egyptian government has announced a ban on the wearing of the face-covering niqab in schools from the beginning of the next term on 30 September.

Education Minister Reda Hegazy made the announcement on Monday, adding that students would still have the right to choose whether to wear a headscarf, but insisted it must not cover their faces.

He also said that the child’s guardian should be aware of their choice, and that it must have been made without any outside pressure.

  • المنطقة عكف عفريتEnglish
    2•10 months ago

    I think it might still happen even if it’s illegal. They can do it at schools that don’t care about attendance or say that the children have some kind of learning disability or mental problem preventing them from coming to school. As long as they go to exams, I’m assuming it can happen.

    • @yetAnotherUser@feddit.deEnglish
      2•10 months ago

      Looking at the other comment, the status of homeschooling seems somewhat ambiguous.

      However, in my country where children must attend school until they’re 18, what you described doesn’t work. No child is exempt from this rule, save for those with extremely severe learning disabilities. And schools are extremely strict when it comes to non-attendence of minors. For instance, after 10 missing days each further missing day must be accompanied by a doctor’s notice (or other proof if it’s unrelated to health, such as attending a funeral of a family member during school hours). If there is no valid reason why the child was missing for so long, the parents will either receive a fine in the low thousands of dollars or a criminal investigation will be started.