The Egyptian government has made a decision to restrict the wearing of the niqab (full-face veil) by girls in schools during the new academic year, which begins on September 30 this year. Reda Hegazy, Egypt’s Minister of Education, publicly announced the decision and described the new guidelines. Hair covers are permissible, according to Minister Hegazy, but they must not obscure the student’s face. Furthermore, unless approved by the Directorate of Education, no models or illustrations promoting the hair cover are permitted, he said.
Minister Hegazy also emphasized the responsibility of the guardian in the student’s decision. “It is crucial that the guardian is aware of and consents to their daughter’s decision to wear a hair cover, and this choice should be entirely voluntary, free from any external pressure or coercion,” the Minister said.
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Should a girl want to wear a hair covering, even though it will continue to be allowed, the Minister of Education wants to make sure she has not been pressured to do so by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, hoping to have hair coverings warn in such a way that they become full-fledged hijabs. This new rule should be interpreted as part of the war that the El-Sisi regime is waging against the members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s another weapon to be used against members of the MB who, will, of course, continue to insist that their own womenfolk wear — if not the niqab — at the very least the hijab. And now their children can be expelled from school as a result. The Ministry is determined to turn back the clock in Egypt, to the 1950s when secularism was at its height, niqabs were never seen, and hijabs, too, were worn much less frequently on the streets of Cairo than they are today.
Continue here: OpIndia
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