The leaders of Swedish schools and universities should be allowed to ban students from wearing clothes that cover their faces, including Islamic veils such as the full-body burqa and the full-face niqab, Education Minister Jan Bjorklund said Wednesday.
“Education is based on an interaction between teacher and students. You have to be able see each others’ faces,” Bjorklund said. “I think that it is questionable if the school can fulfil its task if a student wears clothing that covers the face, like the burqa and niqab.”
Bjorklund said the proposed ban would also apply for other clothing that covers the face, such as balaclava masks.
There are no statistics on how many female students in Sweden wear the burqa or the niqab. Estimates suggest there are at least 100,000 practicing Muslims among Sweden’s 9 million inhabitants, but that number is uncertain too as there are no official statistics.
But the veil issue made headlines a year ago, when a woman studying to become a kindergarten teacher was told she could not wear the niqab at her school in Stockholm.
She filed a complaint with the Equality Ombudsman, who has yet to rule on whether she was discriminated against or not.
Bjorklund said he felt it would be “strange” if the woman would be allowed to wear the niqab at a future workplace since “the children have to be able to see their teacher’s face and see her reactions.”
The proposal was criticized by some members of Bjorklund’s Liberal Party, as well as the opposition Left Party, while the Social Democrats said it was not a major issue.
The Left Party’s education spokeswoman, Rossana Dinamarca, said the proposal would “force more girls with full-face veils to (religious) independent schools” and criticized the proposal as populistic, noting the upcoming elections in September.
Independent schools - some have a secular profile, others have a confessional profile - are financed by a voucher system, and are authorized by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.
About 9 per cent of pupils aged 6 to 15 are enrolled in independent schools, while some 17 per cent of secondary students aged 16 to 18 are in these schools, the Association of Independent Schools estimates.
The two main Swedish teacher unions were divided in their initial reactions to Bjorklund’s proposal. The 225,000-strong Swedish Teachers’ Union appeared more in favour.
Metta Fjelkner, the head of the National Union of Teachers in Sweden that organizes 80,000 teachers at various levels, warned that the proposal could be divisive.
“It would have been better if the government decided if it is allowed or not (to wear the niqab or burqa),” Fjelkner told Swedish radio news.