In Dagestan, six-form pupil sent out of school for wearing hijab

Rizvan Abusufyanov, a resident of Shamkhal-Station, Kirov District of Makhachkala, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that his daughter Patimat Abusufyanova, a pupil of the sixth form, was sent away from school today because she is wearing an Islamic headscarf (hijab). Abusufyanov said that school director Patimat Magomedova was behind the incident.

The man said that he had already addressed the directress for explanations: "Magomedova told me that I had slandered her through my statements in media about the ban to schoolgirls on wearing hijabs in her school; therefore, my daughter can't go to her school."

The pupil's father tried to explain to the director that her actions were illegal, but Magomedova said that she was the only master in her school. "Complain wherever you want! If your daughter takes her hijab off - she'll study at my school, is not - go away anywhere, say, to your Tsuntin District," she said to Abusufyanov.

He has added that only his daughter was sent away from school, other girls who wear hijabs continue going there. In the end of the conversation, Abusufyanov said that he would still send his daughter to her native school. "If necessary, I'll go to court," he said.

It was not possible to receive any Magomedova's comments, as nobody answered the calls to the school telephone number.

The conflict burst out on October 16, when Abusufyanov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that his daughter was not let to school, because she wore a hijab according to Islamic traditions. Similar complaints arrived also from other villagers.

Thus, Paizulla Mirzamagomedov said that directress Patimat Magomedova demanded that Gabibat Gasanova, first deputy head of the administration of the Kirov District of Makhachkala, gave personal permits to wear hijabs. "In the presence of other pupils, the directress kept asking our children: "Maybe you wear your scarves because of lice in your heads?" Mr Mirzamagomedov said.

Then, Magomedova said, when asked by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent to comment the situation, that the school had its charter prescribing what the girls can and what they cannot wear. "Hijab is not a Muslim and not a Dagestan piece of clothes. What, did our grandmothers wear it? I'll not let advertising Wahhabite clothes in my school. Let in Iran and Saudi Arabia they go with their covered muzzles. I talked to Imam of our mosque Magomed, and he said that clergymen should not get into school affairs," said the directress.

The attempts of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent to contact Ms Gasanova failed; the city administration advised him to call Liudmila Dubynina, head of the department of education of the Kirov District of Makhachkala. She said that wearing hijabs is banned by the federal law on education.

"In Russia, education is secular; no political parties, political and religious movements and organizations are allowed in schools," said the official. Only suggestive questions allowed clearing out that Ms Dubynina found hijabs to be external manifestations of affiliation to parties, movements and organizations.

Natella Musalaeva, first deputy minister of education and sciences of Dagestan, has stated that the law says nothing about the children's clothes they put on when going to school, but personally she is against schoolgirls' wearing hijabs.

"In our country, religion is separated from the state; and we don't dictate how people should be dressed when they go to the mosque. Recently, a brother of one of the schoolgirls wearing hijabs came to talk to me. He insisted that her sister should be let alone. I asked him: 'What will your sister do at physical culture lessons, where pupils should wear their sporting uniform?' He answered: 'She'll not attend these lessons at all.' But in this way she is at risk to remain without a diploma. We recommend teachers to hold explanatory conversations with parents and schoolgirls. We also carry out similar work at the ministry," Ms Musalaeva has noted.

Magomedrasul Omarov, press secretary of the Spiritual Department of Moslems, said that back in December 2008 the Mufti addressed the ministry asking to explain the hijab issue. "The minister of education and sciences of Dagestan gave an obscure answer: say, outgoing from the charter, teachers have the right to demand from pupils to observe the school uniform, where there's no place for hijabs," said Mr Omarov. He has added that the procedure of introducing school uniform is not regulated by any normative document whatsoever.

Lawyer Gazimagomed Khiriev thinks that Dagestan officials, school directors and teachers exercise voluntarism. "Not a single law, especially the Russia law on education, says anything about mandatory wearing of these or those clothes," he said.

The lawyer views the hijab problem from several aspects. "The ban to wear Islamic scarves in the republic, where the overwhelming majority of the population are Moslems, can be apprehended as humiliation of religious dignity and still more destabilize the situation in this restless republic," said the lawyer.

"I'd like to remind these too zealous bureaucrats about the statement of the Supreme Court of Russia of May 15, 2003, which allowed Moslem women to get photographed in hijabs to their passports, although the service instruction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia "On the Order of Issuance, Replacement and Accounting of Citizen's Passport" clearly prescribes that citizens are obliged to get photographed without any headgears. The supreme judges realized that the instruction was limiting one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Russia - the right to the freedom of worship," said Mr Khiriev.