Three girls-students return to NMC after expelling for wearing hijabs

Three female students from Dagestan have been reinstated at the Novocherkassk Medical College (NMC) after they managed to reach a compromise on the dress code with college bosses. The situation was resolved without court, while the publicity of the incident, as well as criticism by Ramzan Kadyrov, played a decisive role, the advocates have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 11, 2023, the NMC expelled five female students, including natives of Dagestan and Chechnya, for wearing hijabs. The college leadership said that female students can return to school if they refuse to wear clothes with religious attributes.

On January 29, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, called the hijab ban a manifestation of fascism and threatened to "take action."

Kizperi Magomedbekova, one of the expelled students, said that she and two other students returned to the NMC. She plans to complete her studies at this college, like the other two girls from Dagestan.

Two other girls refused to return to the college on their own free will, Ruslan Nagiev, an advocate, has informed.

"A compromise solution has been found. The girls will attend college in the clothes that, on the one hand, do not contradict the college rules, and on the other hand, do not violate the principles of the students' religion," the advocate has added.

Magomed Nurbagomedov, another advocate, is sure that publicity has played a decisive role. "I think that they could not ignore Kadyrov's demands," he has stressed.

Wearing hijabs is often causing incidents in various institutions, Danis Garaev, an Islamic scholar, has noted. However, in recent years, there has been less discrimination in Russia because of hijabs, which has to do with the actualization of traditionalism, he has added.