Church of England School Suspends Muslim Teacher for Refusing to Remove Veil

A Muslim woman has been suspended by a Church of England junior school in West Yorkshire, after she refused to remove her veil whilst teaching young children in lessons.

|PIC1|A council spokeswoman has confirmed the decision, which has come about because Aishah Azmi, 24, refused to heed to requests from the school to remove the veil, after pupils complained that they found it hard to understand her during English language lessons.

The young Muslim woman was told by the school that she could wear the veil in corridors and the staff room at Headfield Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, but must remove it when teaching.

A spokesman for Kirklees Council said, "I can confirm she has been suspended. The matter has gone before an employment tribunal and we are waiting for the result. It would be inappropriate to comment further."

The tribunal heard the case in September and is due to announce its decision within the next two weeks.

Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik backed the school's decision, saying: "In schools the top priority has got to be the education of our children. I fully support the decision of the education authority and the school in requesting the classroom assistant remove her veil when teaching primary school children.

"I believe the education authority has bent over backwards to be accommodating and has been extremely reasonable and sensible in the decision it has come to. There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children."

|QUOTE|The school educates 529 pupils aged between 7 to 11, and is known to have many students from different ethnic origins where English is not used as a first language.

An Ofsted report carried out in February 2006 said: "Most of the children are of Pakistani or Indian heritage, and a few are from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, including white British. The first languages spoken by most children are Panjabi, Gujarati and Urdu, and many children are still learning to speak English."

Emphasising that the decision was purely for the good of the school's students, Kirklees Council's children's services spokesman, Jim Dodds, said Ms Azmi's suspension was "nothing to do with religion".

He said, "We are simply trying to ensure that our children get the best possible education. Both pupils and teachers raised concerns because they were finding it difficult to make out what she was saying during lessons.

"We have a lot of pupils who do not speak English as a first language and you have to be able to see people's lips move when you are being taught. We asked this young lady to remove her veil when she was teaching English language, but she refused."

Mr Dodds said that even if Azmi won her case the council would not alter its stance.

"Our only concern is that the children are taught properly."