Egypt Bans Girls From Wearing Face Veil While Attending Schools

Egyptian women wearing niqab (full face veils) flash the victory gesture as they pose for a group picture outside a polling station in al-Montazah district of Egypt's second city of Alexandria on the first day of voting in the 2018 presidential election on March 26, 2018. (STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt’s government has banned female students from wearing the niqab, or face veil, while attending schools, effective from the upcoming academic term on Sept. 30, according to local reports.

Egyptian Minister of Education Reda Hegazy issued new guidelines on school uniforms on Sept. 11, which state that female students are allowed to wear a hair cover, but it should not cover their faces.

“Hair covering for girls is not compulsory but rather optional, and it is stipulated that the covering that the female student chooses of her own will does not obscure her face,” the guidelines stated, Egypt Independent reported.

Mr. Hegazy said guardians must be informed of their daughter’s choice to wear a hair cover and allow her to decide “without pressure or coercion from any person or entity other than the guardian.”

According to BNN Network, the Egyptian Ministry of Education has instructed educational directorates to get confirmation from guardians, ensuring they are fully aware of their daughter’s decision.

The minister said that the school board will work with the board of trustees, parents, and teachers to decide on the uniform color for all pupils. This decision will be taken in collaboration with the education directorate.

“The apron may be replaced by a shirt and skirt of appropriate length for girls, and a shirt and trousers for boys,” the guidelines read, according to the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper.

The niqab is a garment some Muslim women wear, concealing their faces except for their eyes.

Some higher education institutions in Egypt have already implemented bans on wearing a face veil, citing the need to address communication issues between students and educators.

Cairo University’s Previous Ban on Face Veil

In 2015, Cairo University in Egypt banned the wearing of face veils by female staff amid student complaints about communication difficulties during classes. This decision sparked condemnation among people who viewed it as religious discrimination.

Gaber Nassar, former head of Cairo University, said the niqab is especially problematic in language courses, where the cloth barrier of the veil hinders student-teacher communications—producing low grades and graduates incapable of enunciation.

In 2009, Cairo University banned students and staff from wearing the niqab on campus or in dorms. The ban was later overturned by a Cairo court following a lawsuit filed by a professor.

When asked about this, Mr. Nassar explained that the previous ban was deemed unconstitutional because it applied to “all of the university.” In contrast, his ban was only focused on lecture halls.

“We are not banning the niqab, we are just regulating it,” Mr. Nassar told The Associated Press on Oct. 13, 2015.

Egypt’s High Administrative Court subsequently ruled in favor of the ban in 2020. The court said that while individual choice of attire is a matter of personal freedom, this freedom should not contradict what it referred to as “public morals.”

Following the court’s decision, other local educational institutions, such as Ain Shams University and Fayoum University, imposed rules prohibiting female professors from wearing the niqab in classes.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has argued that banning the wearing of the niqab may implicate the country’s international legal obligations regarding the right to manifest one’s religion or belief.

“Personal freedoms have received special protection in the constitution. They should be observed without any derogation or limitation that may touch their origin and essence,” EIPR researcher Ishak Ibrahim stated in a blog post in May. 4, 2020.

“Giving the state far-reaching authority over determining suitable clothes to religious values or public order, this right and potentially opens the door to other restrictions over attire and women’s bodies more broadly,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.