Muslims protest hijab ban in public schools

The Muslim community has condemned some public school authorities who allegedly prohibit female Muslim faith learners from putting on a hijab—a gear covering the head and the neck worn by Muslim women and girls in public places.

The condemnation comes barely two months after the Rastafarian community staged a protest to push government to lift its ban on students attending school wearing dreadlocks.

In a statement dated January 30 2019 signed by Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) secretary general Twaibu Lawe, the community condemned the behaviour, describing it as a violation of human rights.

Reads the statement in part: “We demand that all school authorities should respect the Constitution and thus allow Muslim female students to put on hijab or dress Islamically in class or around the school.”

Speaking in an interview on Friday, MAM spokesperson Sheikh Dinala Chabulika said the conduct by some school authorities has led to school drop out among Muslim female students.

But Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) Principal Secretary Justin Saidi, while acknowledging receipt of the complaint from the Muslim community, said he could not comment much as he was yet to go through the statement.

Commenting on the issue, Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) executive director Benedicto Kondowe said government should treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves as it is a matter of human rights.

On November 21 2019, Rastafarians staged a protest in Blantyre as they intensified their push for the government to lift its ban on students attending school wearing dreadlocks.

To the Rastas, dreadlocks are a fundamental tenet of their beliefs and, therefore, should be exempt from any policy.

The Rastafarians have for a decade tried to have  the unofficial ban on dreadlocks lifted.