mc_squared Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Catholic school bans Muslim girls from wearing face veils during official visit By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 11:32 AM on 29th June 2009 Comments (28) Add to My Stories Controversial: Two pupils removed their veil to attend a Catholic school open day, but their Muslim teacher refused the request Two Muslim pupils and their teacher were told to remove their facial veils before they could make an official visit to a Catholic school. The party were from an Islamic school in Great Harwood and were visiting St Mary's School in nearby Blackburn, Lancashire for its annual open day. The town is the constituency of Justice Secretary Jack Straw who has previously been involved in rows over the wearing of the traditional Muslim veils by females. The veil the 'niqab', which is worn with a headscarf or hijab, only allows slits for the wearer's eyes. A spokesman for St Mary's said the request was made because the veils were against school policy. The two pupils agreed to the removal but their teacher refused. She was taken to an office at St Mary's and told she would not be allowed on the premises. Abdul Quereshi from the Lancashire Council of Mosques spoke out against the ban. 'I thought St Mary's had a good reputation and am very disappointed,' he said. 'The information I have is that this was the action of one individual and now this will once again will become a big issue.' 'The wearing of the veil is to protect the nature of the Muslim family and avoid the temptation facing Muslim males.' Niqabs, also known as burqas, are most commonly worn by Muslim women in the Arab countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 11:32 AM on 29th June 2009 Comments (28) Add to My Stories Controversial: Two pupils removed their veil to attend a Catholic school open day, but their Muslim teacher refused the request Two Muslim pupils and their teacher were told to remove their facial veils before they could make an official visit to a Catholic school. The party were from an Islamic school in Great Harwood and were visiting St Mary's School in nearby Blackburn, Lancashire for its annual open day. The town is the constituency of Justice Secretary Jack Straw who has previously been involved in rows over the wearing of the traditional Muslim veils by females. The veil the 'niqab', which is worn with a headscarf or hijab, only allows slits for the wearer's eyes. A spokesman for St Mary's said the request was made because the veils were against school policy. The two pupils agreed to the removal but their teacher refused. She was taken to an office at St Mary's and told she would not be allowed on the premises. Abdul Quereshi from the Lancashire Council of Mosques spoke out against the ban. 'I thought St Mary's had a good reputation and am very disappointed,' he said. 'The information I have is that this was the action of one individual and now this will once again will become a big issue.' 'The wearing of the veil is to protect the nature of the Muslim family and avoid the temptation facing Muslim males.' Niqabs, also known as burqas, are most commonly worn by Muslim women in the Arab countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc_squared Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 Catholic school bars Muslim teacher who refused to remove face veil so staff could identify her By James Tozer Last updated at 12:15 AM on 30th June 2009 Comments (41) Add to My Stories Controversy: A niqab leaves only eyes visible A Muslim teacher was barred from a Roman Catholic college after refusing to remove her full-face veil so staff could identify her. The woman, who works at an Islamic school, opted to leave instead and now the college could face a claim of religious discrimination. The teacher was at an open day at the sixth-form college with two female pupils, all of them wearing niqabs showing only their eyes. After they were asked to remove them to comply with college policy, the girls, thought to be aged 15, agreed but their teacher refused and left. The incident in Justice Secretary Jack Straw's Blackburn constituency comes the week after French president Nicolas Sarkozy called for the all-enveloping burkha to be banned. He called it a sign of 'subservience and debasement' rather than of religion. Yesterday, David Cameron joined the debate. The Conservative leader said that while women should be free to wear burkhas and niqabs, schools were a different matter. 'You can't wear the full garb and be an effective teacher,' he said. In 2006, Mr Straw said that veils could make community relations harder as they were a 'visible statement of separation and difference'. Earlier this year, another Catholic college in his constituency, Our Lady and St John, turned away a Muslim mother from a parents' evening as she was wearing a full-face veil. The latest incident, at St Mary's College, is said to have left the visiting teacher 'shocked and upset'. More... Revealed: Britain's 85 sharia courts as Islamic justice spreads in UK At both colleges, any items which obscure the face, including crash helmets, are barred as the wearers cannot be identified. The rule also applies to Muslim staff and pupils as wearing veils would hamper their ability to communicate. Governors at the 250-pupil Islamiya Girls High School, where the teacher works, are considering lodging a formal complaint. A source said: 'We have a very good relationship with St Mary's and the parents respect the education it provides. 'But this is the first we've heard of this policy – surely the onus was on them to inform us?' Yesterday, local Muslims criticised the extension of the ban to visitors. Abdul Hamid Qureshi, the chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: 'We understand when they say it isn't conducive to learning for pupils and teachers to wear the niqab. 'But she was only visiting as part of an open day, she wasn’t teaching a class. ‘Women who wear the niqab think that to remove it in front of men is being disobedient to God’s will, so they won’t. ‘To ask mothers and other visitors to take off their veils means they will stay away.’ But David Green, director of the think-tank Civitas, said: ‘The college is absolutely right. ‘Most Muslims would say it isn’t a religious obligation to cover the face, so if you do so in this country, you’re making a political stance.’ Schools have been allowed to restrict the wearing of veils after two key judgments in 2006 and 2007. Classroom assistant Aishah Azmi and a 12-year-old girl lost their legal battles to wear veils in class. Ministers opted against an outright ban, saying it was for individual schools and councils to decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Why am I not surprised you took the time out to find two of these stories and slab them together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc_squared Posted June 30, 2009 Author Share Posted June 30, 2009 They weren't exactly difficult to find.;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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