A catholic school has prompted a uniform row by banning a four year old Muslim from wearing a hijab at school. St Clare’s School in Handsworth, on the outskirts of Birmingham, asked the girl’s parents to respect their strict uniform policy, which includes no headwear or scarfs. The primary school’s decision ignited a debate among community leaders after the girl’s father called on town hall officials to intervene.
Waseem Zaffer, Birmingham City Council’s Labour cabinet member for equalities, said that he had met the head teacher and told her the ban on the hijab was against the Equality Act. But his cabinet colleague Cllr Majid Mahmood said that since it is a faith school, St Clare’s is “maybe within its rights to insist upon a particular dress code,” just as a Muslim faith school “may require girls to wear headscarves.”
Dr Mashuq Ally, a former head of equalities for the council, agreed saying there is no religious requirement for girls of infant school age to wear the hijab and that there are demographic changes which lead to a significan number of Muslim children attending a Christian school then the parents should ask the governors to consider changing the uniform policy.
