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German Court Backs Ban on Muslim Headscarves for Teachers
MANNHEIM, Germany, June 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A German court on Tuesday upheld a ban in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg on Muslim teachers wearing a headscarf in the classroom.
The states' administrative court rejected an appeal by the teacher, Fereshta Ludin, who had refused to remove her headscarf
(hijab) in the classroom and was subsequently told by state education authorities that she could not work as a teacher in the state.
Ludin, a 29-year old Afghan-born German, had argued that the right to religious freedom protected her decision to wear a headscarf.
The judges ruled, however, that teachers had a legal responsibility of "neutrality" and that duty took precedence over religious freedom. A spokeswoman for the Central Council of Muslims in the western city of Cologne slammed the judgment as a "career ban" for those who practiced Islam.
The court upheld a preliminary judgment by a lower court in favor of a restriction set by the school board in the state capital Stuttgart.
"I feel reduced to this small piece of cloth," Ludin said in reaction to the ruling.
Ludin said that she had no intention of promoting Islam at work or proselytizing, but was simply practicing her own religion.
Her lawyer, Hansjoerg Melchinger, indicated that his client might appeal the case to the Constitutional Court, Germany's highest court.
In July 1998 the Baden-Württemberg education authorities decided that Ludin, one of the applicants for a primary school teacher's post, should not be appointed because, as a believing Muslim, she wanted to wear her religious scarf during school hours.
In a number of press articles attention was drawn to numerous objections raised by parents during the young lady's period as a teaching assistant. The Baden-Württemberg minister of education supported the decision as to non-appointment.
In a press release she argued that teaching while dressed with the scarf were inconsistent with the principle of religious neutrality, which were binding not only on the state, but also on teachers in their function as civil servants.
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