Collegiate Times

The English Department of Education and Skills in Great Britain has decided to give teachers the right to be able to ban Muslims from wearing their religious veils to school.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said, "If they feel any garment imposes on a child's ability to learn or is a safety or security issue, they could be banned."

The DFES formulated these guidelines after a recent legal battle over whether Islamic dress could be worn in school and by recent security questions and issues.

These guidelines are also backed by Senior Minister Jack Straw and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who described the full-face niqab (the scarf worn by some Muslim women) as a "mark of separation."

Countering these guidelines, many Muslim students and groups are appalled by statements of the British leaders and think that the British government is creating Islamophobia.

Those in favor of the guidelines state that the learning of Britain's Muslim students is being hampered because teachers feel that it makes the student's reactions toward understanding harder to read, as well as hindering their social interaction compared to those students who do not wear veils.

The DFES spokeswoman also continued to say that, "in (this) guidance is that safety, security and the ability to learn is paramount."

Having the British DFES ban Muslim veils is not only stripping the Muslim religion from their beliefs but is also wrong in thinking that a students' learning or inability to learn because of their beliefs is paramount to their religious beliefs.

Religious views are commonly chosen by the individual or the individual's families, and for the DFES to determine what is more important in every British school children's life, education or personal religion, is not fair to any school child or their families' beliefs.

It is a good example of separation of church and state, where in this case, the state is ruling over the church demanding that in the state, learning is paramount over religion.

Banning the veils for reasons of security and safety is a semi-acceptable reason, but should still not be enacted because the state is stripping a certain group of people from their religious beliefs.

Rajnaara Akhtar, chairperson of Britain's Protect-Hijab group, believes that it is reasonable for schools to ask girls to take off their niqab during class.

"I think individuals who want to wear the niqab should exercise a degree of flexibility… It's not only in England, you have Muslim countries around the world which do impose the same requirements," she said.

A degree of flexibility is certainly a good idea for Muslim students to consider but it is still wrong for a teacher to demand a student stop their religious beliefs.

The decision of whether a student should wear their niqab should only be up to the student, the student's parents or religion. The issue should not have been brought up for a set of guidelines but as an issue to be decided by personal choice and personal beliefs.