The Swiss parliament has rejected a motion demanding that students in Swiss schools be required to shake their teacher’s hand, regardless of religious reservations.
The proposal, put forward by Sandra Sollberger from the conservative Swiss People’s Party, was a direct reaction to the 2016 debate surrounding two Muslim students in canton Basel Country, who refused to shake their female teacher’s hand due to their faith.
On Tuesday, echoing the debate that spread across and outside Switzerland at the time, Sollberger described the students’ refusal as a lack of respect towards women, and as proof that they had no wish whatsoever to integrate Swiss cultural habits.
The motion was defeated by 123 votes to 57 – a refusal that should bring the affair to an end at national level. [swissinfo.ch] Read more
