06 September 2022, 14:51
Ban on wearing hijabs at Astrakhan university angers Chechen authorities
Female students of the Astrakhan Medical University have complained that they are forbidden to attend classes in hijabs. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has instructed Magomed Daudov, the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament, to take the issue under his personal control.
The regulations on the appearance of students and employees placed on the website of the university state that any clothes that indicate the belonging to a particular religion are prohibited.
The girls who complained about the ban have noted that at the entrance to the university they are forced to take off their hijabs under the threat that their student cards could be taken away. They began wearing white scarves, but this did not suit the university bosses either.
The issue of wearing hijabs at the Astrakhan University was raised back in 2013. Then, Alexei Gasanov, the Minister for National Policy, noted that hijabs are not Dagestani clothes and that "the norms of a secular state must be respected."
In his turn, Vitaly Gutman, the head of the Astrakhan Regional Ministry for Education, has stated that "there is no need to purposely show the belonging to some religion by one's appearance," The "Dagestanskaya Pravda" writes.
In December 2016, the women working at state institutions in Chechnya reported that they were obliged by their bosses to wear hijabs at work.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 6, 2022 at 05:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot