Vienna schools report isolated cases under headscarf ban

The new headscarf ban for girls up to the age of 14 has caused no major problems in most schools in eastern Austria during its first week, but Vienna’s compulsory schools have reported individual difficult cases, ORF reported.

Thomas Krebs of the FCG, deputy chairman of the central committee representing Vienna’s state teachers, said a rapid survey had found at least one case at schools across the capital’s 550 primary, middle and special schools. Conflicts have also occurred in primary schools, but are more common at secondary level.

Fines of up to 800 euros possible

Many girls and their parents were called to meetings with school directors on Tuesday and Wednesday after the girls refused to remove their headscarves when asked by teachers, Krebs said. About half of the cases had been resolved, according to initial feedback, including cases in which parents had sent their daughters to school wearing headscarves out of ignorance of the new rules.

Cases in which parents or the girls themselves did not comply were referred to the education directorate. Further violations can result in administrative fines of up to 800 euros for parents, including repeated fines.

But the conflict was not over for schools, Krebs told the APA. He said the continued presence of individual girls wearing headscarves in class despite the legal ban was causing disruption.

Few reported problems at grammar schools

Violations of the ban have not been a major issue at Vienna’s grammar schools, as far as is currently known. Some schools do have girls wearing headscarves from the second or third year onwards, and there are likely to be isolated cases in which the ban is ignored and the headscarf is not removed after a warning.

However, Irini Tzaferis of the FSG in the federal representation of academic secondary schools said an information campaign in recent months appeared to have had an effect.

The most urgent issue in protecting girls at schools from coercion was not the headscarf itself but work with boys, she told the APA. This included not only boys with Islamist leanings, she said, but also boys who felt comfortable in the so-called manosphere, described as misogynistic online networks, or who tended towards far-right extremism. Tzaferis called for a comprehensive package of measures.

Equal treatment body reports excessive enforcement

The Equal Treatment Ombud’s Office said inquiries to its legal advice service and hotline, as well as reports of racist discrimination at schools, had increased significantly in recent days.

According to the reports, the ban had sometimes been enforced excessively. Girls who did not remove their headscarves after speaking with a teacher were reportedly sent into the corridor or made to wait together outside the school director’s office until their parents collected them.

One girl was reportedly told that she would have to leave Austria if she continued to cover her head. The Equal Treatment Ombud’s Office stressed that schools were required to implement the law, but said this must not result in racist discrimination against the girls.