The right to wear hijabs in schools requires the fulfillment of a number of conditions. Ban on wearing hijab in schools declared legal
In January, the topic of “hijabs at school” became almost the main topic in the media and society. It all started in Mordovia, where teachers wearing a hijab were threatened with dismissal by the local Ministry of Education. History repeated itself in the Ulyanovsk region, where local officials also banned both teachers and students from wearing the hijab. The head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Olga Vasilyeva, added fuel to the fire by declaring, with reference to the decision of the Supreme Court, that hijabs have no place in school. At the same time, human rights activists from the Human Rights Council proposed leaving the regions the right to decide on the admissibility of wearing hijabs in schools.
Life looked into what it’s like to study in a hijab in an ordinary Russian school, to be the only one wearing a headscarf in class, and who might be bothered by this.
Alana
Alana leaves the house in a warm jacket, white tights and a light hat. Behind his back is a bright backpack, in his hands is a bag with a change. Her 6 "B" is engaged in the second shift. Alana usually gets to her lessons by two. She, as always, arrives a little earlier and takes off her extra clothes in the locker room. He hides his hat and scarf in the sleeve of his jacket. Remains in a skirt, gray jacket, shirt. And hijab. He looks in the mirror and checks to see if his hair has come out from under his headdress. After making sure that everything is in order, he goes to class.
The school is the most ordinary one. 860 students. She's the only one wearing a hijab.
Alana has been going to this school since first grade. I put on the hijab at the age of 9. She says because she wanted to be like her mother. I first came to school with my head covered in the second grade. And so it began.
She remembers how her mother brought her to lessons then. I managed to talk to the teachers. But how to explain to children? They laughed at Alana in class. He answers in class - they giggle. When he goes out for recess, he points his finger and constantly asks why, why. “At first I answered that it was a secret,” the girl recalls. Coming home, Alana cried. Zulfiya, the girl’s mother, recalls that everything that happened came as a shock to the child.
Alana was very worried about the reaction of her classmates. Plus, her mother got sick. The girl began to skip classes. The school became worried. At the same time, we started thinking: is it possible to allow a child wearing a hijab to attend lessons? During the summer holidays, the family was given an ultimatum: headscarf or home schooling.
The family agreed to neither. Zulfiya sent letters in stacks. To the local education committee, the mufti. Finally a decision was made. A girl can wear a headscarf to school. Since then, since the third grade, Alana has not taken it off. Goes to classes wearing a hijab. Not black. The outfit matches the color of the uniform. Blue or grey. It's obvious that she loves to dress up. Everything is modest, but carefully selected in color. There is a bright ring on her hand. There are flowers and beads on the jacket.
Now at school no one notices her hijab. In the class, the girl has two best friends - Sasha and Zhenya. They, as Alana herself says, don’t like her headdress. Friends sometimes reproach a classmate for having beautiful hair, but she hides it. However, these disputes do not affect the relationship in any way. During recess they don’t leave each other a single step.
“She is very active,” the class teacher will say. He will list where they went together with the class. Theatres, discos, botanical garden. “With my friends arm in arm... I have never heard from either the boys or my parents that Alana is somehow different and that we need to do something with her.”
Without Alana, friends will quietly say that sometimes they still call her names. But she no longer pays attention to it. Children are different and can be cruel. At 12, she understands this very well.
Alan prays and reads prayer at home, before and after school. School is uncomfortable. In the canteen he eats everything except meat. Bad at mathematics and exact sciences, but excellent at music and singing...
What if at school they ask you to take off your headscarf?
I can't just take it off. If this happens, I’ll discuss everything with my mother right away,” Alana answers.
“This was her conscious choice. She will not take it off. This is out of the question. This is part of morality. She will not take off the headscarf,” my mother is sure. Zulfiya herself used to live a social life, but six years ago she decided to cover her head.
According to her, if the school once again gives an ultimatum, the headscarf or the school will most likely choose home schooling. But I don’t want to make a choice. Neither Zulfiya nor Alana. And the cost is quite high: according to my mother, homeschooling will cost 10 thousand rubles per month.
“If the state takes a stand, then let them allocate money for schools for Muslims. We have the right to freedom of religion. I have a completely ordinary child. Clean, tidy. The only thing that distinguishes her from others is a scarf on her head.”
Zukhra
The girl came to school in a headscarf in the fourth grade. “They didn’t pay attention to me. They asked why you were wearing this. I answered that it was required by religion. The teachers didn’t say anything,” she says and smiles. Zukhra is cheerful, laughs often, glances at her friends.
The girl’s mother, Odina, on the contrary, is calm, it’s clear that she is worried. A month ago, her daughters moved to another school. Zukhra and her twin sister are in the sixth grade, the eldest daughter is in the seventh. We were not allowed to wear a headscarf to class.
“They said, why do you need this? Girls will be teased. Relationships with friends will not work out. The school is secular. Let everyone walk the same way.”
There are five or six Muslim girls in each school class. All without scarves. Odin's daughters now too.
“We were told that it’s not allowed. Of course, I’ll ask again to be allowed,” says Odina.
Madina and Sabina
Sisters Madina and Sabina wear headscarves to school, and, according to them, if the topic of hijab is in a conversation with underclassmen and pops up, it’s not too often.
"Sometimes they ask about it. I answer that it is our religion. We accepted it and must follow the laws. Some listen and understand, others do not. Sometimes they insult us," says 13-year-old Sabina.
Her sister Madina is now in 10th grade. Mom recalls that she always dreamed that her daughters would wear a headdress. On Madina’s birthday, when she turned nine, I gave her a scarf.
“Now there are fewer insults. In the second grade, I was the first person to wear a headscarf to school, they called me names very often. Now several years have passed. Almost everyone treats me normally, they’re used to it,” explains Madina.
Her sister Sabina is in seventh grade at the same school. It's easier for her. Sometimes on the street they just ask their mother: “Why is she so small, and already in a headscarf?”
The family has been living in Perm for 18 years. I’m used to questions and hardly pay any attention to those who are dissatisfied. Madina wants to study until the 11th grade. The youngest, Sabina, after 9th grade dreams of entering an Islamic college. Surely no one will ask unnecessary questions there.
February 1 is the unofficial World Hijab Day. In some countries, including Kazakhstan, authorities react to hijabs by banning them in schools. Journalists from Uzbekistan, Tatarstan and Tajikistan told how they are conducting such a restrictive campaign and how the population reacts to it.
In Kazakhstan, dozens of parents are suing school principals. They are trying to challenge points in the internal charter of schools, as well as a point in the order of the Minister of Education of 2016 on uniform requirements for school uniforms. At the same time, the Minister for Religious Affairs and Civil Society of Kazakhstan, commenting on the refusal of some parents to remove their children’s hijabs, admitted that private schools for believers could be built in the country.
In 2017, the Russian Minister of Education publicly spoke out against hijabs in educational institutions. At the same time, in Chechnya, on the contrary, they passed a law establishing the right of schoolgirls to wear a hijab while studying. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that his daughters will not take off their hijab.
In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the hijab is prohibited in schools. In these countries, raids were carried out in public places where women wearing hijabs were forced to remove them.
Using examples from their countries, journalists Hiromon Bakozoda from Tajikistan, Alsu Kurmasheva from Tatarstan and Sirojiddin Tolibov from Uzbekistan tried to figure out how justified the authorities’ fears were and whether we should be afraid of the hijab in schools.
Will the ban provoke radicalism?
The main question that journalists are trying to answer during the discussion is whether the ban on hijabs will become a trigger for inciting radical sentiments in society?
Any bans cause a radical outburst and protest sentiments, says journalist Hiromon Bakozoda. - One must be very careful in making decisions regarding prohibitions or preventive measures in the fight against certain phenomena. Political wisdom is needed. Our officials who make such decisions should think about this.
Her colleague Alsou Kurmasheva recalls a personal story from her school years, when a classmate in Soviet times came to school in red tights, the teacher called her parents, and the girl was forbidden to appear at school in such tights. The next day, as a sign of protest, all the girls in the class dyed their white tights red.
The ban only generates protest sentiments, agrees Kurmasheva.
Discrimination in exchange for safety?
Sirojiddin Tolibov says that after a series of bombings in Tashkent in 1999, wearing hijabs and beards in public places was officially prohibited.
This was a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan. At the same time, the Uzbek Constitution does not clearly and clearly state that Uzbekistan is a secular state, like in Tajikistan,” Tolibov said.
According to his observations, the current president of the country, Shavkat Mirziyaev, is more loyal to traditional Islam, and this is reflected in various areas. For example, mosques have again begun to use loudspeakers for calls to prayer, which was prohibited under Karimov.
Hiromon Bakozoda notes that the Tajik authorities, when introducing a ban on the hijab in educational institutions, justify their decision by the fact that even if the rights of certain groups in terms of freedom of religion are infringed, this is all done for the sake of security in the country. And most of society treats prohibitive measures with understanding.
I remember. In France, wearing hijabs in schools is prohibited, and in some other countries:Hidden text
Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, although predominantly populated by Muslims, prohibit wearing the hijab in government agencies, schools and universities.
The first demonstrative refusal of the hijab took place in Egypt in the 1870s. The first Muslim country to officially ban women from wearing the hijab was Turkey in 1925, but in 2008 the ban on wearing the hijab was lifted due to the fact that the ban on wearing Muslim headscarves violates the rights and freedoms of citizens.
On March 15, 2004, France passed a law banning “symbols or clothing that clearly demonstrate religious affiliation” in educational institutions.
But in Russia? Vasilyeva claims that the hijab is prohibited in schools, Kadyrov claims no, it is not prohibited:
Hidden text
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, criticized the head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Olga Vasilyeva, for her demand to ban hijabs in Russian schools. He wrote about this on his Instagram.
According to Kadyrov, “the headscarf is not an attribute, but an important part of a Muslim woman’s clothing.” He also added that freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are guaranteed by the Russian constitution.
“Apparently, not all officials read this article. Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva said: “The Constitutional Court decided that the hijab, as emphasizing national identity, has no place in school! Therefore, I believe that this issue was resolved by the Constitutional Court... And I don’t think that true believers try to emphasize their attitude to faith with attributes. This is my deep personal conviction.” But the Constitutional Court did not consider this issue and did not make a decision on it! Conclusions based on a non-existent decision must be recognized as erroneous and misleading to Russian citizens,” he wrote.
According to him, Vasilyeva has the right to express her “personal conviction,” but it does not accept the force of law. He also expressed surprise that the minister was “imposing his personal beliefs on millions of citizens.”
“My three daughters go to school, wear a hijab, and have excellent grades. Olga Vasilyeva demands that they take off their scarves? Girls will never do this. Should I take them out of school and, together with them, look for a place where girls will be allowed to be Muslims? - wrote the head of Chechnya.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Education and Science said that schoolgirls should not emphasize their religion with attributes.
Hijabs are back in the spotlight. The leadership of Mordovia demanded that teachers and students of a school in the village of Belozerye, where predominantly Tatars live, not wear Muslim headscarves to classes. The authorities explained this as a means of preventing extremism ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The ban was supported by the Minister of Education, saying that the hijab, as a religious attribute, has no place in school. After which the head of Chechnya both the decision of the Mordovian authorities and the position of the minister. asked First Deputy Chairman Damir-Hazrat Mukhetdinov to talk about possible ways to solve this delicate problem.
"Lenta.ru": Should Muslim girls wear a hijab in a public school if the state is secular?
Mukhetdinov: The problem has been around for more than a year now. We have repeatedly said that the rights of religious citizens must be respected in accordance with the constitution of our country. But personally, during the discussion, I raised a number of other issues that, by inertia, will follow the issue of the hijab. And as a result, we come up against the question of the secularity of our school, the secularity of the state.
If at the first stage we take the hijab for granted, then it is quite natural that tomorrow the issue of halal nutrition will arise on our agenda, so that the school provides them to Muslims on an alternative basis. One can go even further and ask whether Darwin's theory should be taught, or whether the Islamic Sharia permits drawing, singing and physical education lessons. Some will demand separate education for boys and girls.
Thus we launch a very dangerous mechanism. The state, given the multi-religious and multi-ethnic nature of the country, needs to take into account the rights of various minorities, including atheists, of whom there are many in Russia.
It turns out that Minister Vasilyeva is right?
I have always talked about the need for a multivariate approach. There must be different components taken into account, taking into account the views of different parties.
What about the specific situation in the village of Belozerye, where local authorities banned the hijab?
This is a simpler question. Here we are talking about a purely Muslim, Tatar village and Muslim children, who traditionally, even during the Stalinist period of persecution, wore headscarves. It is not entirely clear why the regional ministry is so attached to this. Here I agree with Ramzan Akhmatovich, who says that we really have serious problems at school - drug addiction and other social vices. If regional ministers and education officials in general fought this so zealously, with the participation of parents, then our schools would improve much faster.
Therefore, I see a twofold situation. On the one hand, we say that students need to instill moral values, and we have a separate subject in which students can choose to study Muslim culture. On the other hand, if you launch this flywheel [of prohibitions] against Muslims, then, naturally, it will hit others. Muslims will say tomorrow: why is there a crucifix hanging at the entrance in the principal’s office, in the most secular school, why is there an icon hanging in the classroom? And in the Muslim region, Christians will find fault with some prayer book from the Holy Quran. You can go further, as in France, where the kippah and pectoral cross were banned. There was a recent case in Kazakhstan when a teacher tore off a student’s cross.
Then perhaps the French are right, and in a secular state schools should be free of any religious paraphernalia? So that everyone is on equal terms?
If we, as Minister Vasilyeva stated, are saying that Russia is a purely secular state with a secular nature of education, then this rule cannot be applied to a single religion. And Muslims now see in these words of hers a political, specific context. Orthodox Christians can build their own chapels and open prayer rooms on the territory of schools, universities, and other educational institutions. Priests, teachers will come there and do whatever they want. And when in a traditional Muslim environment girls wear headscarves, the conversation almost turns to the third world war.
We are not France. Our country is well called - the Russian Federation. The word “federation” contains the main mechanism and philosophy of the state, according to which, without taking into account the characteristics of the population living in a particular region, we are not able to build a harmonious society. If we do not accept the characteristics of someone else who is different to us, then we will never find harmony and come to a common denominator. Ramzan Kadyrov clearly explained everything in one sentence, saying that his daughters have always walked and will wear a hijab, and no one will dare to rip it off them (here we mean not only his family, but the entire Chechen Republic), otherwise they will get it ...what he will receive.
Why does the Supreme Court uphold the right of local authorities to ban the hijab in schools, but appeals bear no fruit?
This is a normal living process. 25 years after the fall of atheism [as a state ideology], the vacuum is gradually being filled. Most officials understand that Russia is, first and foremost, an Orthodox country. When we realize that Muslims, Jews and our other religious groups are not stepchildren, but sons of our fatherland, who are subject to the same rights and responsibilities, then the entire system of executive and legislative power, and the attitude of the courts will change radically.
In the meantime, there is a majority group, and we are not considering anything like that in relation to it. Laws can be passed against a minority that infringe on their rights, but one must understand that the more the spring is compressed, the more forcefully it will be released.
How do you evaluate Olga Vasilyeva’s words that a true believer does not need any external attributes of his religiosity?
Philosophically, I share her position, and in general, the issue of hijabs is debatable. Even from a theological point of view, there is a point of view that the hijab is not prescribed as strictly as is traditionally believed in Muslim communities.
Indeed, a true believer never flaunts his faith. This is especially noticeable in the Caucasian Sufi traditions, when Sufis and dervishes abandoned the practice of public worship and performed all rituals secretly at night so that society would not suspect them of hypocrisy and demonstrative piety.
But we must understand that there are children and parents who are not ready for a deep philosophical look at the essence of religion and God. They need precisely forms, and in them they see their existence, the meaning of their faith. In their understanding, if you took off a woman’s scarf, you deprived her of honor and dignity. This is painful for any person, and especially for Muslims.
How to convey this position to the authorities?
Even those platforms that we have today - and others, unfortunately, do not work to their full potential. I have been participating in Christmas readings in the State Duma and the Federation Council for many years, listening carefully to His Holiness the Patriarch, dignitaries, and faction leaders. Everyone appeals to the fact that Russia is a multi-religious country.
But I have a question that my son formulated: why, year after year, at these events, not a single Muslim figure has the right to express his point of view? Why, if we talk about the secular nature of our state and society and our officials appeal to the diversity of our religions and nationalities, is our position on this or that issue not heard?
This question has not yet matured. Not all participants in the dialogue fully understand that they should have the opportunity not only to broadcast and listen, but also to be heard. I think that after some time the organizers of such events will think about making sure that the voices of Muslims and other numerous communities are heard. There are from 25 to 30 million Muslims in Russia. This is already 15 percent, and in the near future - 20-25 percent of the country's population, the youngest, most active and most cheerful. Not taking their votes into account would be disastrous for the state.
What should we do now?
Now Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov conveys this position most effectively to the country’s leadership. With just his Instagram, he expresses the thoughts of millions of Russian Muslims, becoming in their eyes a champion of the faith. After all, not all religious figures speak out so clearly, harshly and principledly. The head of an authoritative republic cannot be ignored. I am sure that this will raise new waves of discussion and lead to discussion of the issue on other platforms.
Russia's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the ban on Muslim girls wearing headscarves in schools, rejecting complaints from seven parents from Mordovia, RBC reports.
This is not the first such complaint that ends in a ban. Russia is a multi-religious country, but at the same time it is a secular state. How to ensure equal rights for all citizens of Russia, without hurting the religious feelings of representatives of different faiths? Experts do not have a consensus on this matter. Some believe that in a secular state there should be freedom of choice. Others believe that the right to exercise religion must be respected.
President of the Institute of National Strategy, political scientist and publicist Mikhail Remizov considers the decision “to exclude the hijab as a symbol of religiosity in public schools” to be “absolutely correct.”
“There may be religious, Muslim, Christian schools, but in public state municipal schools, just like in universities, the ban is absolutely legal,” Remizov told Actual Comments.
“Today, the situation with regard to the hijab in schools is used by parents of students in some cases, in fact, to test the strength of the Russian social system, and is a topic for quite conscious and deliberate provocations,” the expert believes. “In this situation, the state just needs to demonstrate a consistent position and not succumb to pressure. Not only to the state, but also to society,” Remizov noted.
“By and large, Islamists will occupy exactly as much space as society leaves for them. Therefore, compliance in such matters will be perceived as a green light for further expansion,” the expert stated.
Ruslan Kambiev, an adviser to the Mufti of the Stavropol Territory, an expert on the Council of Muftis of Russia, and a human rights inspector in the civil committee and human rights commission in the North Caucasus Federal District, holds a diametrically opposite opinion. According to him, this decision infringes on the religious rights of girls raised in the traditions of Islam, who are required to wear a headscarf from the age of 12.
“I just spoke with the mufti of the Stavropol Territory, this is our consolidated decision that we do not support this,” Kambiev told Current Comments.
An expert from the Council of Muftis noted that the Spiritual Administration of the Stavropol Territory and the Council of Muftis of Russia will submit a joint request to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“In general, we will try to challenge this decision,” Kambiev emphasized, recalling that the court revised the decision to classify the Koran as extremist literature. “We hope that this decision (the ban on wearing the hijab in school - editor’s note) will be reconsidered,” said the mufti’s adviser.
Executive Director of the Gregory the Theologian Foundation Leonid Sevastyanov called the problem of wearing a hijab in schools far-fetched: “In a secular state, the state does not impose a norm or fashion on clothing. A person himself has the right to choose whether to wear jeans or a formal suit.”
“It’s another matter if the school has a generally accepted dress code, as was the case in Soviet times, when all schoolchildren had to wear a school uniform. In this case, adherents of other cultural and religious traditions who wish to study at this school must adhere to this dress code. But in the absence of a strictly regulated uniform in schools, any restriction on girls to wear a headdress is an infringement of their rights precisely from the point of view of a secular state,” noted the AK expert.
Pavel Zarifullin, director of the Lev Gumilyov Center, in an interview with Current Comments, emphasized that the problem of linguistic and national diversity in Russia is now especially relevant.
However, with hijabs, he advised a simple solution: “We need to introduce headscarves as a compulsory uniform for girls - in school - like in church.”
According to experts, there are up to 8 million Muslims in Russia, most of whom live, including in the Volga region. In Mordovia alone, there are 60 traditional Tatar villages, where girls from an early age are taught to wear headscarves and headscarves.
In May last year, the government of Mordovia by decree prohibited attending schools with a covered head. Seven residents of Mordovia appealed to the Supreme Court last fall against this decision. The applicants said that their daughters were humiliated in schools, their hijabs were torn off and they were not allowed to attend classes. Some of them had to switch to home education, and some of them had to move to other schools.
A representative of the government of Mordovia opposed the satisfaction of the complaint. She noted that Russia is a secular state, and the ban on wearing headscarves in schools is due to the fact that not all children adequately react to the manifestation of religiosity in others.
Gumilyov Center