KZBlog

According to an article by Interfax, wearing the hijab in Kazakhstan schools is forbidden. Apparently a student in Taraz wanted to wear one and the school administration did not allow her to, citing rules regarding the school uniform and the Taraz city education department supported this decision. Interestingly, apparently the Minster of Justice wrote on his blog that hijabs are not banned by Kazakhstan law, but the Minister of Education later confirmed that students should not wear the hijab because, “… wearing clothes stressing a student’s belonging to a certain religion is prohibited and a single school uniform is recommended.”

I have a few questions here. First of all, I had always thought that hijab meant headscarf. In that regard, many women in Kazakshtan wear scarves on their head and it isn’t clear to me how one would distinguish those wearing it for religious purposes and those wearing it because their heads are cold. In other words, it isn’t clear to me that a headscarf really does indicate one is a Muslim. Many Russian grandmothers wear scarves on their heads–hence the odd porting of the word babushka in America to refer to a head scarf itself.

Complicating this is the fact that a quick websearch indicated that hijab can also refer to a headscarf and veil or it can refer generally to proper Muslim dress. In the latter sense, men wear a hijab when they grow their beards and hair and hijab for women includes long sleeves and long skirts.

If we are talking about a veil, I can see the position of the education officials. A veil does clearly mark one as Muslim, which I don’t necessarily agree is bad (I’ll get to that later). However, a veil arguably does promote a belief system that women are inferior to men, that they should not be seen, and also a view that men cannot control their sexual thoughts when women are exposed to them and therefore women should cover themselves to protect men from sin. Not sure children should be exposed to the idea that 1) women cause men to sin and 2) therefore women should be held responsible for men’s sins.

If we are talking about long sleeves and skirts, or other modest dress, I don’t see the problem because again this is not something that only Muslims prescribe to. Every day I wear a collared shirt with long sleeves and long pants to my job at a school, the same dress I would wear to a mosque out of respect to Islam. Does that mean I am “stressing my belonging to a certain religion”? I don’t think so.

Which brings us to the fundamental issue here: Why is demonstrating that you have a religion banned in schools? Does this mean Christians cannot wear crosses? Can Jews doodle a Star of David in class? Can Muslims wear a crescent moon necklace or a medallion of Arabic script? I understand that the motivation is likely promoting religious tolerance and avoiding extremism. I believe that any sign that one is intolerant of religion should be banned–for example a T-shirt that says, “The Jews killed Christ” or, “Islam is the only true religion”. But we’re not talking about offensive messages here. We’re talking about, I believe, a girl who wants to wear a headscarf because she believes her hair should not be seen in public. I don’t agree that women should be forced to cover their heads, but I don’t see why it’s a problem if they chose to do so.

So any thoughts from you, my gentle readers?