The UK Principal Of Indian Origin Reverses The Hijab Ban Order
St Stephen’s school, in Newham, east London, declared to be one of the best schools for its solid teaching record as per the ‘Schools Guide 2018’ had to bow down to public outcry on social media.
It all began when the Indian-origin head teacher, Neena Lall imposed a Hijab ban on young girls aged less than eight years. However, this did not go down well with the school community and led to a backlash on the social media where Ms Lall was trolled as Adolf Hitler and the earlier Chairman of the schools’ governors as Stalin plus the remaining team labeled as acolytes of Hitler.
The school’s governors’ rose in her defense but to no avail and Ms Lall had no option but to apologize before the parents-school management meeting held on Monday under the presence of Stephen Timms, the local MP of the Labor party. The announcement of the decision’s reversal was made at the same time after talking with the school community.
The school had sought clarity in guide lines from the UK Government with regard to the wearing of hijab by young girls and undergoing religious fasts, to avoid criticism from parents. As per the guidelines issued by the UK’s Education Department it was for the school’s governing bodies and head teachers to decide on uniform policy and found the social media trolling unacceptable.
The social media posts had led to the resignation of Arif Qawi, the Chairman of school’s governors in the earlier week. He is said to return only if the school is given a free hand in deciding on policy matters with the uniform code counted in. As believed by campaigners, donning the hijab by young girls is incorrect as conventionally it is worn only after puberty.
The school which has maximum number of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani students featured in the top list of a league table involving prominent primary schools in November 2017, published yearly by the Sunday Times.
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