The lower house of the Austrian parliament has adopted a ban on wearing headscarves in schools for Islamic girls under the age of 14.
The ban, proposed by the ruling coalition of three centrist parties, was also supported by the far-right Freedom Party, which was the only one to call for the measure to be applied to school staff as well.
The only party that opposed the proposed ban was the Greens, who have the fewest members of parliament. They argued that such a ban violates the Constitution.
Austria’s Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm from the conservative People’s Party, which leads the ruling coalition, called headscarves for minors “a symbol of oppression.”
Austria’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that the previous ban, which applied to under-10s in schools, was illegal because it discriminated against Muslims and that the state had a duty to be religiously neutral.
Education Minister Christoph Wiederker said young girls are under increasing pressure from their families and from unrelated boys who tell them what to wear for “religious reasons”.
(Vijesti.ba / Srna)
