Mikl-Leitner seeks higher fines for headscarf ban violations

Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner is calling for higher penalties for breaches of the new headscarf ban shortly before the start of the school year, ORF reported. The ÖVP politician said reports of online calls to bypass or delay the ban amounted to deliberate provocation of the rule of law.

The ban takes effect at the start of the 2026-27 school year and applies to pupils up to their 14th birthday. It prohibits headscarves in public and private schools when they cover the head “according to Islamic traditions”. Exceptions include lessons and school events held outside school.

Mikl-Leitner has urged Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr to raise the maximum fine from 800 euros to 2,500 euros.

The law requires several steps before a fine can be imposed. After a first breach, the school management must speak with the pupil and at least one parent or guardian. Further breaches are referred to the responsible school authority, and child and youth welfare services may also be involved.

Only after additional breaches can parents or guardians face an administrative fine of between 150 and 800 euros. If the fine cannot be collected, a substitute prison sentence of up to two weeks is possible.

Lower Austria’s education councillor, Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister, said teachers must not be left to implement the ban alone. The state education directorate is therefore in contact with school heads. Around 200,000 pupils attend schools in Lower Austria, according to figures last cited by the state at the end of the previous school year.

The ban is legally disputed. In 2020, Austria’s Constitutional Court overturned an earlier ban for primary school pupils, finding that it violated the principle of equality in conjunction with freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The court also considered it significant that a specific form of religious clothing had been singled out.

The federal government argues that the new law is intended in particular to protect girls’ self-determination and equality. The Ombud for Equal Treatment has expressed a different view, raising constitutional concerns and warning that the ban could reinforce existing stigmatisation and social polarisation.

Five girls aged between nine and 12 and their parents challenged the new ban before the Constitutional Court in March and April. The court rejected the applications as inadmissible because the law had not yet entered into force, without examining its constitutionality. A new challenge will be possible after the law takes effect.