THE PARENTS of the teenage girl whose request to wear the hijab prompted her principal to call for guidelines to be issued on the wearing of the hijab in State schools have echoed the call for official direction from the Department of Education.
“Existing dress codes need to be reviewed in light of the new Ireland, the new multicultural Ireland,” Liam (Mujahid) Egan told The Irish Times.
“It is important that this issue is dealt with to reflect the changes Ireland has gone through in recent years.” Mr Egan (40), who converted to Islam at the age of 28, moved with his British-born wife Beverley (Su’ad) McKenzie and their four daughters to his hometown of Gorey last August after the family spent 11 years living in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where Mr Egan taught English.
Their eldest daughter Shekinah (14) started wearing the headscarf full-time at age 11, said Ms McKenzie. “It’s something that she understands and wants to do herself,” she said. The couple requested that Shekinah be allowed wear the hijab in class when she enrolled at Gorey Community School. “The initial reaction from the school was that there were other Muslim girls at the school who did not wear the hijab,” said Mr Egan. “The principal said he would allow it for the moment and refer it to the school board.”
Principal Nicholas Sweetman said yesterday he had written to then minister for education Mary Hanafin in October requesting guidance and adding that the issue needed to be addressed “with some urgency”. When no response was forthcoming, the school again wrote to the minister in December. Her private secretary replied, advising that it was a matter for the board of management to decide on a school policy, “and it would not be appropriate for the department to direct or advise a school in relation to any aspect of its policy on dress code”.
In a letter Mr Egan sent to Mr Sweetman, with the request that it be read to the school board, he stressed that the hijab is “a religious requirement for all Muslim ladies who have reached the age of puberty . . . It is a sign not of degradation but of subordination to the rules and laws outlined in the Qur’an.” The letter, a copy of which was seen by The Irish Times, continues: “Once a Muslim woman becomes aware of the requirement she is obliged to wear it.
“Should she, once she has knowledge, decide not to wear it, she now becomes disobedient . . . As a teacher would never hold a disobedient pupil up as an example for others to follow, as Muslim parents we do not encourage our children to emulate disobedient Muslims. Accordingly, my family and I trust that our daughter will be given every opportunity, without blame or discrimination, to be the very best student that she can be.”
Mr Egan said the principal never mentioned anything to him or his wife about the hijab contravening uniform policy. “His concerns were that she might be bullied,” he added.
Mr Sweetman told The Irish Times yesterday that official direction would clarify the issue for schools and Muslim parents.
“The State should be offering guidance so that we don’t have a situation where in this school the child is allowed to wear the hijab, and another school down the road will say, ‘We don’t allow that’,” he said.