Neena Lall, the Indian origin principal of the respected St Stephen’s School of the UK – the school is in Newham, East London – has had to apologise and withdraw her controversial decision to ban the hijab for very young students of the school.
The school, which had been declared the best among primary schools in the annual schools league table of the Sunday Times, had also been listed as the best school in England in the ‘Schools Guide 2018’ for a strong teaching record, reports NDTV.
The school has been in the line of fire for its decision and even as its chairman of governors, Arif Qawi, had quit in protest, Lall has been slandered as “Hitler” on social media.
Lall has been forced to reverse her decision to impose a ban on the hijab for girls below the age of eight. She took this decision earlier this month, but in a school which comprises mainly of expatriate Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, the decision had gone down unfavourably. There was even a video circulating on social media which portrayed her as Adolf Hitler and Arif Qawi as Russian dictator Stalin. The video also portrayed the management team as Hitler’s acolytes.
The Sunday Times has quoted one of the governor’s of the state funded school as saying: “It is a very good school. Neena is a very good head teacher,” the report says.
However, the protest has gone to the street and while meeting parents recently, in the presence of attended by local Labour party MP Stephen Timms, Lall was forced to apologise.
In a statement the school said: “The school’s uniform policy is based on the health, safety and welfare of our children. The school has taken the decision to make changes to this policy with immediate effect and this follows on from conversations with our school community.
“We will work with our school community to continue to review this policy going forward in the best interests of our children,” it said.
The school had earlier urged the British government to issue clear guidelines on the issue of hijab wearing and religious fasting relating to very young pupils. When offensive messages started being posted on social media last week Arif Qawi had resigned in protest. However, he was agreeable to return to his post if ministers give a clear signal that they will support the school’s right to set policy, including a uniform code.
—India Legal Bureau