School told to get with the times after hijab row

24 January 2013 - 02:08 By QUINTON MTYALA
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A Cape Town school has been rapped over the knuckles by the provincial education department because two Muslim siblings were told they could not attend class wearing religious headgear.

Grade 11 pupil Sakinah Dramat, 16, was told to remove her hijab and her Grade 9 brother, Bilaal, 13, in Grade 9, his fez on their first day at their new school, Eben Dönges High School, in Kraaifontein.

Western Cape education department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the school's principal, Wilfred Taylor, had been told to meet the parents today to resolve the issue.

Atwell said: "The department believes that it is a simple matter to accommodate pupils' religious beliefs by adjusting dress codes.

"According to the National Guidelines on School Uniforms, schools should take religious and cultural diversity into account.

"In terms of the constitution, schools should not prohibit attire such as yarmulkes and headscarves if they form part of religious practice or obligation."

Bilaal complied with the request to remove his fez but Sakinah refused. Their teachers told them that they would not be allowed into class while wearing the headgear because it was not part of the school uniform.

Their mother, Nabilaah Dramat, said that when she and her husband applied for their children to be enrolled at the school they were told that the children would be allowed to wear a fez and a hijab if they were in the colours of the school uniform.

"But now, when they joined the school, the attitude seems to have changed," said Dramat.

In 2005, pupil Sunali Pillay was told to remove her nose stud by the Durban Girls' High School .

Her mother took the KwaZulu-Natal education department and the school to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the school had discriminated against her and violated the Equality Act.

"We chose Eben Dönges because it's a very strong academic school and both of them are strong academically," said Nabilaah.

Muslim Judicial Council spokesman Nabeweya Malick said it was important that all religions and cultures be embraced, especially at schools where children were taught tolerance.

"We come from a very dark past, and there are still some people in society today who hold onto negative views," she said. "The principal of that school needs to be called in and briefed about the new South Africa."

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