Vienna reports 55 cases under under-14 headscarf ban

Vienna has reported 55 cases under Austria’s ban on headscarves for girls under 14, ORF reported, with dozens of alleged violations emerging two weeks after the law took effect.

The cases involve students who continued to attend school wearing a headscarf even after their parents had been summoned by school directors. Most of the cases in Vienna concern girls in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, with 14, and Floridsdorf, with 11.

The law, which applies from this school year, prohibits girls under 14 from covering their heads on school premises “according to Islamic traditions”. After an initial violation, the class teacher must ask the student in a confidential one-to-one meeting to remove the headscarf. If that does not work, the school director must inform the parents about the law and its stated aim of protecting girls from social or religious pressure.

If the student continues to attend school wearing a headscarf, the case is referred to the education directorate. The first meetings with parents in Vienna, during which the law and its consequences will be explained again, are due to take place this week.

The authority said not all cases involved radical families. Some older girls themselves did not want to remove their headscarves, according to a report cited by ORF.

Lower Austria has already moved to the next stage in one case, according to a statement from the state government. After a student violated the ban again following a meeting with her parents at the education directorate, the parents were reported to the Neunkirchen district authority. Further cases are at different stages of the legally prescribed process, with additional meetings at the education directorate scheduled in the coming days.

Repeated violations can result in fines of up to 800 euros imposed by the district administrative authority. Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner of the Austrian People’s Party again called for the maximum fine to be increased to 2,500 euros.