Principal calls for guidelines on wearing of hijab in schools
The Irish Times 19/05/08

THE PRINCIPAL of one of the largest secondary schools in the State has called on
the Minister for Education to issue guidelines on the wearing of the hijab in
State schools.

This follows 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
headscarf in class.

Nicholas Sweetman, principal of Gorey Community School in Co Wexford, 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 shows the school
wrote to then minister for education Mary Hanafin last October, when a Muslim
couple asked that their child wear the hijab in class.

Though this contravened the school's rules on uniform, the principal agreed to
the request pending approval by the board of management.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0519/1211123049258.html

Ray


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We have our task, and God knows it is a hard one -- the salvage
of a shipwrecked world. - Lothrop Stoddard
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