Britain says no to veils in classrooms

New Delhi: British authorities issued new rules on Tuesday to allow schools to forbid Muslim students from wearing full-face veils in class.

The Department of Education published the new guidelines after a court in Buckinghamshire rejected a 12-year-old Muslim girl's demand to wear the niqab in class last month.

The new guidelines issued by Education Secretary Alan Johnson state that schools should consult parents, governors and the local community to come up with a uniform policy regarding niqab.

The decision has brought mixed responses from Muslim organisations, some of whom accuse the government of "blowing the question of the veil out of all proportion."

The decision is the latest in a saga of rancorous discussion of the full-face veil, known as the niqab. Last October, Prime Minister Tony Blair had joined the debate by describing the niqab as a "mark of separation".

12-year-old Muslim girl's caseA 12-year-old schoolgirl in Britain lost a legal challenge to her school's ban on a full-face veil on Wednesday.

Justice Silber, in his judgment in Buckinghamshire court, ruled that the ban was "proportionate" in the light of factors like the veil prevented teachers from seeing a pupil's facial expression – a key element in effective classroom interaction and necessity to enforce a school uniform policy.

The judge had been told that the girl's three older sisters had attended the same school and had worn the niqab with no problems.

But the school in Buckinghamshire had told the girl it was not acceptable because teachers believed it would make communication and learning difficult.

In his judgment, Justice Silber said he was dealing with one particular case and not the wider issue of whether the niqab should be worn, in schools or anywhere else.