school uniform

UmmSky

Salam everyone!

Just wondering if anyone can help. I am applying for high school places for my daughter and have been told by some schools that she cannot wear loose trousers or a headscarf, and she cannot pray whilst at school.

Is this common here? It seems most schools have a skirt which doesn't go down to the ankle.
The headteacher at my children's Catholic primary school said they can't discriminate in this way against religion and she is going to speak to the Department of Education about this. So I am wondering if anyone has had any success in negotiating with high schools about these issues?

Kind regards,
Umm Sky

Frank Grimes

Hi. I have no personal experiences but I have looked into this a bit in the past so maybe this information will be of some use. An issue of sorts arose over wearing the hijab in schools in 2008, here and here are a couple of links about it, you can find more via google. Guidelines were produced which you can find here, it really just leaves it at the discretion of the schools and, to the best of my knowledge, that has not changed.

The matter came up again last year and the following quote from that article would seem to suggest that nothing has changed:

When contacted by the Sunday Independent, the Department of Education and Skills said uniform guidelines are specifically set by individual schools.
"School uniform policy is a matter for each individual school, preferably in consultation with its own stakeholders . . . parents, students, and any other relevant parties," it said in a statement.

I do not know much about pupils being allowed time off to pray, I have heard anecdotes stating that some schools do allow this but that is up to the schools themselves to decide rather than any formal policy. Perhaps contacting the Islamic Foundation of Ireland about these questions might be an idea too?
Just to restate, I have no direct experience of this and I am open to correction on anything I have said - I would also be interested in hearing about facilitating prayers in schools. Hopefully some of that is helpful anyway.

UmmSky

Thank you ever so much Frank Grimes! This is really helpful information.

Frank Grimes

UmmSky wrote: »

Thank you ever so much Frank Grimes! This is really helpful information.

No problem! Another thing that came to mind after I posted the above; the general compromise, where the school allows the girls to wear a hijab, seems to be that they must wear a scarf that is 'in keeping' with the rest of the uniform. In the girls' secondary school close to where I live the Muslims girls (who wear a hijab) wear a colour that is the same as the school jumper for example. I have heard this happening in other places too.