DNA - World - Muslim veils can be outlawed from school classrooms: Falconer - Daily News & Analysis

DNA - World - Muslim veils can be outlawed from school classrooms: Falconer - Daily News & Analysis



Muslim veils can be outlawed from school classrooms: Falconer
PTI Monday, May 07, 2007 19:45 IST



LONDON: Muslim veils, full-face niqab, can be justifiably outlawed from schools on the grounds of school uniform policy, Britain's legal chief has said.
Lord Falconer, a Cabinet minister, said that this also included other Islamic religious garments such as the full-length jilbab gown. He said common sense rather than concerns about human rights should govern what pupils wear to school.
His declaration to a head teachers' conference last night has been welcomed by professionals and many parents.
A spokesman for the National Association of Head Teachers said, "A return to common sense has been our policy all along. Uniform policy should be worked out in consultation with an entire community, not based on the interests of one section."
But critics of the Government's Human Rights Act questioned why schools have had to face massive legal battles to uphold uniform policy.
Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said, "The Human rights Act has nothing to do with common sense. It's no wonder that teachers are left so confused by these issues."
Lord falconer, the Lord Chancellor who is a close friend of Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the head teachers' national conference that he backed the decision of a Luton school to stop Muslim pupil Shabina Begum from wearing a jibab gown to class.
The teenager took legal action against Denbigh High School in 2002, citing the right to 'freedom of thought, religion and expression.'
Shabina won an earlier ruling at the Court of Appeal that her human rights had been violated when she was told by a teacher to go home and change into a uniform approved by the school. But Law Lords last year ruled that the school had been justified in its decision.