IWF insists on right of Muslim girls to wear hijab in schools

THE Islamic Welfare Foundation (IWF) has called on government at all levels, especially in states in the South West and Kwara State, to stop treating Muslim students as second-class citizens.

The foundation said that “our female children in schools are constitutionally entitled to practise their faith by adorning the hijab as this is not only their rights as citizens of Nigeria but also as guaranteed under all international human rights instruments.”

The IWF, in a statement by its national Coordinator, Dr H.K.A. Kalejaiye and National Secretary, Dr Abdulkarim Oloyede, said: “It is no longer news that some state governments and grant-aided schools have taken it upon themselves to create a needless and baseless controversy on the use of hijab in public schools.

“The Islamic Welfare Foundation condemns in very strong terms this affront on our constitution and will resist it with all legal means available to us as citizens of this great country.

“We want to place on record that virtually all the hierarchies of courts in Nigeria have put judicial imprimatur on the rights of the girl-child to use hijab anywhere in Nigeria, including schools. We make bold to say that these court decisions did not give a distinction between public, private or grant-aided schools.

“It is important to stress that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear and unequivocal on the rights of citizens to practise their religion, irrespective of where they find themselves.

“We want to add that we are yet to see the painting of Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon her) without a veil/hijab anywhere in the world. All over the country, you can never see Catholic sisters without the equivalent of a hijab in any public place, be it at their schools, marketplaces, hospitals, etc. Wearing of hijab is, therefore, a needless controversy that ordinarily should not have arisen at all.

“And going beyond the shores of Nigeria to our colonial masters, Britain, there are no specific legislations against the wearing of hijab in public schools. Also in the United States of America, Muslim girls are allowed to wear hijab in schools, just as Sikh children can wear turbans and Jewish children can wear the kippah. So, why do Nigerian Christians want to be holier than the pope?”

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