St Mary's Catholic College Turns Away Muslim Teacher Wearing Veil

June 30, 2009

Author: Russell Jenkins

Source: The Times Online

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6606035.ece

A teacher was barred from joining students on a visit to a Roman Catholic sixth-form college because she refused a request to remove her Muslim veil.

She was accompanying two teenage girls on an open day to see if they wanted to study for their A levels at St Mary’s College, in Blackburn. The town is in the constituency of Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, who once said that he preferred Muslim women not to wear veils that covered their faces.

The teacher and students were from the Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School. A spokesman for St Mary’s said that the request was made because veils were against school policy. The two pupils agreed to take off their veils but the teacher declined and left.