Kabardino-Balkarian woman challenges school’s refusal to let girls in hijabs attend lessons

After an inspection, the prosecutor’s office found justified the school administration’s refusal to allow schoolgirls wearing hijabs attending lessons in the village of Zalukokoazhe. This was reported by the schoolgirls’ mother. The woman requested the Prosecutor of Kabardino-Balkaria to lift the ban on wearing hijabs at school.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in October, girls wearing hijabs were not allowed into schools in several villages of Kabardino-Balkaria. The republic’s Muftiate announced that religious leaders had convinced officials not to interfere with schoolgirls wearing hijabs, and on October 4, girls wearing hijabs were allowed to attend classes in the village of Zalukokoazhe. The conflict in schools has been resolved, and changes to school charters are being discussed, the Zolsky District administration reports.

On October 30, Aksana Vorokova, the mother of two schoolgirls from the Zalukokoazhe village, requested the Prosecutor of Kabardino-Balkaria to respond to the actions of the school administration, the “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights reported. The woman reported that after the intervention of the republic’s Muftiate, her daughters were allowed to wear headscarves and hijabs at school, but the legal prohibition was not lifted. At the same time, the school principal filed a complaint to the Centre for Combating Extremism against the schoolgirls’ parents, reporting that they allegedly threatened her.

Furthermore, according to a village resident, the Zalukokoazhe school administration began collecting data on all schoolgirls wearing headscarves (hijabs), and the school principal promised that children wearing headscarves would not be allowed to attend classes starting from November 6. “We are being told: please practice your religion at home, and in schools let your children forget that they are Muslims. How is this possible?.. The ban on wearing hijabs undoubtedly violates the religious rights of Muslims,” Aksana Vorokova wrote in her appeal.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor of Kabardino-Balkaria has pointed out that schools have the right to independently establish requirements for schoolchildren’s clothing.