UK minister backs Indian-origin school principal to ban hijab in schools

An Indian-origin school principal, who was forced to withdraw a ban on wearing of hijab by young girls after vitriolic abuse on social media, today received crucial support of a UK minister who said bullying or intimidation of school staff was completely unacceptable.

Schools that try to ban hijabs or fasting will receive government support if they face a backlash, the minister has pledged.

Lord Theodore Agnew, Minister for schools systems, faith and counter-extremism in education, also said that schools in the country were completely within their right to make decisions on how to run their institutions in the best interests of their pupils.

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Neena Lall, an Indian-origin principal of the St Stephen's Primary School in east London,had publicly apologised to parents at the school after facing backlash and criticism on social media andcalling the decision a “huge error in judgment”.

Lall blamed the media for inflammatory reporting of the hijab ban last month, which staff members said was to help the youngest girls move freely in PE lessons and outdoor learning.

The school’s decision provoked controversy after it was reported as an effort to aid integration. The school swiftly backtracked a week later, overturning the ban on criticism from parents and local councilors over a lack of consultation.

Later, she withdrew the decision.

A governor at the school, Arif Qawi, resigned amid the stiff opposition and had urged the UK government to spell out school uniform policies more clearly. The minister also threw his support behind schools in the country that want to impose a ban on wearing of hijab or religious fasting by very young pupils.

"They are completely within their right to make decisions on how to run their schools in the best interests of their pupilsin line with the law and in discussion with parents, of course, and we back their right to do so," Agnew wrote in 'The Times' in reference to Lall.

"St Stephen's Primary School in east London has been at the centre of media attention after its ban on young pupils wearing the hijab and?fasting during Ramadan. I have seen the vitriolic abuse on social media after this decision and read of the intimidation of staff, resulting in the resignation of the chairman of governors...I wanted to send out a clear message: bullying or intimidation of school staff is completely unacceptable," he wrote.

The minister responsible for counter-extremism in the Department for Education said the government would not allow a "culture of fear and intimidation to pass through the school gates" and that any opposition to decisions by a school's governing body should manifest itself in the form of sensible, informed discussion and not hateful online reaction."

"School leaders must have the right to set?school?uniform policies in a way that they see fit, in order to promote cohesion," Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, had said.
Under the UK's Department for Education guidelines, uniform policy is a matter for individual head-teachers and their governing bodies. But Agnew offered the government's support to individual schools that may find themselves in a bind.

"We want to do all we can to help schools on sensitive issues, such as those thrown up by this case, and we will be working closely with school leaders and sector organisations on how we can support them," the minister said.

He also warned schools in the country against "promoting religious ideologies that undermine British values" and said the government was prepared to take action against any form of discrimination in the classroom.

(With PTI inputs)