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Dear All,The Gorey Muslim Community posted this article from the Irish Times this morning. It would now appear that Minister Lenihan is not going to make any changes to the existing guidelines. We would like the Irish Hijab Campaign to consider an official press release in response to this news and I would like people to consider the following:1. This move simply places us in the same situation that occurred when the issue first broke.2. The right to education for Muslim girls will still be subject to the whims of Principals and boards of management who can and have banned the hijab in the past. One such school in Dublin cited a Catholic ethos as its excuse for the hijab ban, the young Muslim girl was forced to find a school that would accommodate her.3. The question of the hijab has also raised concerns about the lack of consultation and inclusion in such decisions. As you are well aware over 4000 principals were opined but only a handful of Muslims were consulted about an issue that directly affects them. How does this lack of consultation contribute to the integration that we hear of?
Thoughts please
Mujaahid
Assalaam AlaikumMy understanding of the article in the Irish time is that Hijab is not an issue in schools, and that the Minister for Integration is not keen to over-regulate something that is self regulated. This statement should work in favour of IHC. It indicates that Hijab is naturally accepted in Ireland (under normal circumstances).However, there are a few odd situations that happened recently and may happen in the future in the absence of a clear guideline. So the guideline does not have to be (or be seen) as an over-regulation. It can be simply an informative statement to state that hijab is not (and should not be seen as) an issue, as it is within the frame of the freedom and human rights that are protected by the constitution and state laws. This perhaps can provide a quick answer to the principal of Gorey school or other schools without having to create controversies involving schools, TDs and Ministers for something that should be seen and understood as a non-issue.About Consulting 4000 school principals and consulting only a handful of Muslims, that would be OK if it was directed by the Department of Education. Perhaps It my not be the same if it was directed by the Department of Integration.My suggestion is that we work further to institute a guideline, which does not seem to be difficult (based on the above). So if there has to be a press release than it should build on the current conclusion that Hijab is not an issue, however, a guideline is needed to inform those who do not know. I also suggest direct communication with C. Lenihan to thank him for his effort and explain our concerns.Best Regards
Dr. Ahmed El-Habbash
THE GOVERNMENT has decided not to issue a directive to schools on the wearing of the Islamic hijab headscarf by pupils, Minister of State for Integration Conor Lenihan has indicated.
However, it will provide general guidelines on how such matters might be handled. A statement on the matter is to be made by Mr Lenihan next week.
Speaking at the Parnell summer school in Avondale, Co Wicklow, yesterday, he said over 4,000 school principals had been consulted on the issue "and we received lots and lots of e-mails". "The overwhelming evidence is that it [the hijab] is not an issue in schools," he said. This also applied to "other forms of clothing".
Mr Lenihan wrote to the school principals in June to seek their views on the issue, after being asked by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe to examine whether national guidelines were required on the wearing of "certain types of clothing for religious reasons at school".
The previous month a school principal in Gorey, Co Wexford, had called on the Minister for Education to issue guidelines on the wearing of the hijab in State schools.
This followed the department's refusal to offer advice to the school when a Muslim couple asked last September that their daughter be allowed to wear the hijab in class. Mr Lenihan said yesterday that many principals had "expressed surprise it had become an issue at all".
"There are no examples of schools where it has been an issue. But there are plenty examples of where it has been accommodated," he said.
His statement next week would "reflect that ethos", he said.
Mr Lenihan said he would not see why, "if things are going well locally, there was a need for regulatory zeal or over-regulation in an area which appears regulated at the moment. I am not keen on over-regulation."
The principal who raised the issue in May, Nicholas Sweetman of Gorey Community School, said official direction would bring an end to the practice of schools imposing divergent policies and would clarify the issue for schools and Muslim parents.
Correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the school wrote to then minister for education Mary Hanafin last October, when a Muslim couple asked that their child be allowed wear the hijab in class. Though this contravened rules on uniforms, the principal agreed, pending approval by the board of management. The school, where 85 out of some 1,500 students come from a foreign background, later decided to continue to allow the pupil to wear her hijab.PATSY McGARRY
© 2008 The Irish Times
