Madam, - In dismissing as unimportant the issue of whether to allow the hijab (headscarf) in schools, Breda O'Brien misses a major point (Opinion, May 31st). Once the hijab is permitted, no girl whose family wants her to wear it has any excuse not to. She will be told she is immodest and not a proper Muslim.
In London, where I live, I now see primary school girls with their heads tightly covered. That is child abuse. In some secondary schools, the niqab, the full face-veil, has been tolerated. When one headmistress banned a 14-year-old from wearing it, Cherie Blair took the child's case in the name of human rights, although it was clear the girl was under the direction of a radical brother.
Here we see more and more women wearing the full burqua, which means they can make no human contact with anyone outside their homes. It may be that some of them make that choice, but many are bullied into doing so. It is men who lay down the law in mosques, schools and ghettoes. Yet there is no religious requirement to dress like a race apart: the Koran simply enjoins modesty, which requires neither head-coverings nor all-encompassing robes, which are Arab traditional dress.
If the Department of Education has any courage it should follow the example of the French and ban the hijab now before it is too late. There will be grumbling, but Muslim children will still go to school, and if they are dressed like their schoolfellows, they will integrate more easily. - Yours, etc,
RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS,
Pope's Lane,
London W5.
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Madam, - The debate over the wearing of the hijab by Muslim girls in Irish schools is not about multiculturalism or integration. Ruairi Quinn of Labour and Brian Hayes of Fine Gael are attacking the wearing of hijab under the cover of claiming to want "integration" for immigrants, when in fact their policy, by accident or design, is to remove religion from schools and take away freedom of choice from parents.
The wearing of the hijab by Muslim girls does not prevent integration between Muslims and non-Muslims. In hundreds of schools across the country Muslim girls who wear the hijab are fully integrated in their schools and communities. Only aggressive secularists could be offended by the wearing of the hijab.
Immigration has brought challenges to society and in particular to education. However the wearing of the hijab is not one of these challenges. Those who seek to make it so are creating problems where none exist. - Yours, etc,
Cllr JOHN KENNY (PD),
Arundel,
Monkstown Valley,
Co Dublin.
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Madam, - While I agree with Breda O'Brien that Irish schools should permit girls who wish to wear the hijab to do so, and that we should draw the line at more radical coverings, I'm somewhat surprised at her wide-eyed credulity on the major argument put forward by some of the Islamic community demanding the "right" to wear it.
Far from defending the freedom of girls and young women, this is often really a demand for the "right" of parents to limit their children's freedom in particular ways that are alien to modern Ireland.
"A girl who makes the request to wear it in school is likely to have thought about it, and be clear about what it means to her. She is doing something brave and counter-cultural," writes Ms O'Brien, but in most cases, a girl who asks to be allowed to wear the hijab is not doing so off her own bat, but voicing the demands of her parents.
Indeed, for a Muslim girl to refuse to make such a request might often be even braver (sometimes foolhardily so) and more counter-cultural (to the culture of her parents).
Therefore, while we should allow teenage girls who genuinely want to to wear the hijab, we should be extremely careful not to facilitate cases where parents are making them do so. - Yours, etc,
JAIME HYLAND,
Berlin,
Germany.