ICC Note: Bullying in Egyptian schools follow religious lines. Girls in particular are harassed when they wear ‘inappropriate’ outfits. One 12-year old was recently forced to leave her classroom because she was not wearing a hijab, or a traditional headscarf. When her mother went to complain about the treatment of her daughter to the board of education she was met with contempt. It has become widespread policy to force all students, regardless of religion, to wear traditional islamic clothes. 

11/01/2016 Egypt (World Watch Monitor): When 12-year-old Rahma Salem refused to wear a hijab to school in the Delta in northern Egypt, teachers ordered her to leave lesson after lesson and would not let her take part in any activity.

“I was made to stand all alone in the school courtyard. The headmistress later came to me and said: ‘Here in school, you put on the headscarf. Outside, you may do as you wish.’ She thought I was a Christian,” said Rahma, the only girl – a Muslim – who dared to turn up to school with her hair uncovered.

“No girl can show up with her hair showing. They all have to wear the hijab,” explained Salem to her interviewer on a talkshow on an independent satellite channel earlier this month, when asked if exceptions were made for Christian girls.

Don’t you want your daughter to be decent?

“Christian girls have to wear the hijab. As soon as the end-of-day bell rings, they start taking it off,” said Salem.

When Salem’s mother went to complain to the Higher Board of Education in her home town of Zagazig, she was told, “Stop being an idiot! Don’t you want your daughter to be decent?”

Earlier, parents closed in on Salem’s mother on the first day of school at the Kafr el-Ashraf Preparatory. “I was shocked when other mothers stopped me at the gate. ‘What’s that? How can your daughter show up like this?’ I re-inspected my daughter’s uniform, and incredulously asked what was wrong. ‘Her head and neck have to be strictly covered!’” said the mothers, referring to the now-prevalent way Muslim women and girls dress, showing only their hands and face.

The Kafr el-Ashraf case is not isolated. A number of parents across the country have reported rising intolerance towards pupils who do not wish to wear the veil, and bullying of non-Muslim children by teachers and by pupils who follow their lead.

On 18 October, Coptic newspaper Watani reported that another state school in the same province, Sharqia, was forcing all female students to wear a hijab. The director of al-Nassiriya School in Zagazig posted a large sign mandating Islamic dress on all girls as part of the school uniform.

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