{"id":106419,"date":"2025-12-11T22:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106419"},"modified":"2025-12-11T22:59:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:59:00","slug":"austria-bans-headscarves-in-schools-for-under-14s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106419","title":{"rendered":"Austria bans headscarves in schools for under-14s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 14 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Austria has passed a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14 years.<\/p>\n

The conservative-led coalition of three centrist parties, the \u00d6VP, the SP\u00d6 and the Neos, says the law is a \u201cclear commitment to gender equality, but critics say it will fuel anti-Muslim feeling in the country and could be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

The measure will apply to girls in both public and private schools.<\/p>\n

In 2020, a similar headscarf ban for girls under 10 was struck down by the Constitutional Court, because it specifically targeted Muslims.<\/p>\n

The terms of the new law mean girls under 14 will be forbidden from wearing \u201ctraditional Muslim\u201d head coverings such as hijabs or burkas.<\/p>\n

If a student violates the ban, they must have a series of discussions with school authorities and their legal guardians. If there are repeated violations, the child and youth welfare agency must be notified.<\/p>\n

As a last resort, families or guardians could be fined up to \u20ac800 (\u00a3700).<\/p>\n

Members of the government say this is about empowering young girls, arguing it is to protect them \u201cfrom oppression\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the vote, the parliamentary leader of the liberal Neos party, Yannick Shetty, said it was \u201cnot a measure against a religion. It is a measure to protect the freedom of girls in this country,\u201d and added that the ban would affect about 12,000 children.<\/p>\n

The opposition far-right Freedom Party of Austria, the FP\u00d6, which voted in favour of the ban, said it did not go far enough.<\/p>\n

It described the ban as \u201ca first step\u201d, which should be widened to include all pupils and school staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a general ban on headscarves in schools; political Islam has no place here, the FP\u00d6\u2019s spokesperson on families, Ricarda Berger, said.<\/p>\n

Sigrid Maurer from the opposition Greens called the new law \u201cclearly unconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n

The official Islamic Community in Austria, the IGG\u00d6, said the ban violated fundamental rights and would split society.<\/p>\n

In a statement on its website, it said, \u201cInstead of empowering children, they will be stigmatised and marginalised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IGG\u00d6 said it would review \u201cthe constitutionality of the law and take all necessary steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Constitutional Court already ruled unequivocally in 2020 that such a ban is unconstitutional, as it specifically targets a religious minority and violates the principle of equality,\u201d the IGG\u00d6 said.<\/p>\n

The government says it has tried to avoid that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill it pass muster with the Constitutional Court? I don\u2019t know. We have done our best,\u201d Shetty said.<\/p>\n

An awareness-raising trial period will start in February 2026, with the ban fully going into force next September \u2013 the beginning of the new school year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AustriaAustria has passed a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14 years.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8273,13746,1910,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-austria","category-headscarves-ban","category-international","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}