Muslim campaigners against the wearing of headscarves by primary pupils are to meet the chief inspector of schools.
The chief inspector of schools has agreed to meet Muslim campaigners who are calling for a ban on the Islamic headscarf in state primaries after The Sunday Times revealed that pupils as young as five were wearing the hijab.
Amanda Spielman, the head of England’s school regulator, Ofsted, will meet women who have labelled the rise of the hijab among young children an “affront to the historical fight for gender equality in our secular democracy”. Traditionally the hijab is not worn until puberty.
In a letter in The Sunday Times today, the campaigners, led by a former Labour parliamentary candidate, Amina Lone, urge others to defend Britain’s “hard-won freedoms”.
“As women, we would legally have to cover up in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Aceh province in Indonesia, but countries such as India and Tunisia are fighting back,” the letter says. “Our country has an abysmal record of protecting young Muslim girls, who suffer under the pretext of protecting religious freedoms.
“By turning a blind eye when our schools are being politicised, government contradicts itself when advocating more inclusion and cohesion.” [The Sunday Times (£)] Read more
