EGYPT (Islam Online) - An Egyptian student enrolled in a French School in Alexandria was asked to refrain from covering her hair if she would still desire to attend school classes.
Officials of the Champlion school, administered by the French Embassy, in Alexandria kept Azza Amr Saad, a junior high student, from attending classes because she was violating secular traditions of French educational institutions.
As a result, she was asked to spend her day confined to the school library.
Amr Saad, the student's father, disputed the case and refused to pull his daughter out of school. The school administration, meanwhile, refused to expel his daughter.
Amr Saad says school officials discriminated against his daughter, arguing that the school does not have a uniform code and liberally permits other students to wear anything they would like, including shorts, and that school officials have said they respect the personal freedom of their students.
School officials said there was no official agreement with the Egyptian Ministry of Education to telling them they must abide to Islamic dress codes.
The elder Saad has taken the matter to the French cultural attaché, who said that after briefing officials from the Embassy and the Egyptian ministry, they both agreed that the matter would be judged according to governing French rules.
The school provides secular educational curricula and does not include classes for religious studies.
