12- September-2023- Aljazeera
The Egyptian government has banned female students from wearing the niqab, a face-covering veil, at schools, according to state-owned media.
Education Minister Reda Hegazy’s statement, released on Monday and quoted by the government-owned Ahram newspaper, said students have an “optional” right to choose if they will cover their hair at school. The statement, however, added that the hair covering cannot cover their face
Any form of hair covering that contravenes the condition of the face being visible is not acceptable and the hair covering should be in the colour chosen by the ministry and local education directorate,” it added.
The decision will be enforced starting from the academic year on September 30 and continue until June 8, 2024.
Egyptians, speaking to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity, expressed mixed opinions over the ban.
M A, a 33-year-old marketing manager from Alexandria, said he is against the niqab being worn at schools because it obscures what should be a “transparent” educational process
Females always pull short straw’
Writer F A, 45, from Cairo, thinks the government’s decision is the latest case of how women are used as “punching bags … socially, politically and economically”.
“Doesn’t matter under what pretext, or none … females always pull the short straw,” she said.
“A story as old as time and one that continues to be written and many applaud/decry it depending on which lens they have slapped on to see the world.”
She said: “With France banning the abaya and the burkini, Egypt following suit with the niqab ban and before that the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade and the Taliban continuing to severely constrain and constrict females from basically living – the policing of women’s bodies continues.”
I A, a 33-year-old civil engineer, also expressed support for women wearing niqab at schools “as it is part of everyone’s freedom”.
“Egypt is a Muslim country,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that he believed it would be difficult to erase the country’s identity with such a decision.
The government took this decision “to enhance security in all the fields, which I find to be against human rights”, I A said.<壯陽藥 /p>