A primary school teacher in Egypt, who wears niqab, or full face veil, has been sanctioned after cutting the hair of two 9-year-old girls as punishment for not obeying orders to wear Muslim headscarves to class, press reports said on Thursday.
The incident has fuelled fears that the country’s Islamist government is emboldening extremist movements and encroaching on personal rights in the name of religion.
Berbesh Khairi El-Rawi decried the teacher’s action and filed a formal complaint against her, and she was sanctioned with the loss of a month’s salary.
A daily, Al-Masry al-Youm quoted the woman as saying: “I did not imagine that cutting off two centimetres (of hair) was a great crime.
“I was joking with them when one of the students got out some scissors and asked me to carry out my threat. I did it to maintain my authority.”
Most Muslim women in Egypt cover their hair, but the full face veil is associated with the ultra-conservative Salafist school of thought.
Ironically, Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious centre of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, banned the face veil from its female-only classrooms and residences in 2009.
9year old child asking her teacher to carry out her threat….I would ve done more than what d teacher did to her
@ceejay, so u actualy beliv wat d teacher said. As for me l dnt beliv lt cus ls obvious dat she ls looking for an excus to cover up her mess. How could a 9 yrs old child be bold enuf to say dat to her teacher & how com dat d child was wit scissors in her bag @ d same tim. Is obvious dat d teacher ls lieing after d children inorder to b in safer side. Nonsense
@ Ceejay, you would’ve done more than what the teacher did and then get a more severe punishment than she got. If anyone likes, they can put themselves in a cocoon in the name of religion but the right of others to their choice must be respected!
Yall need to chill tho… It was only 2 centimetres and she was correcting the students… Totally not worth losing a months salary
@pince and bismarck u both talk as if she did it in nig were no student had d nerve to confront deir teacher. Pls go and check d literary meanin of being frame cos I bliv is a planned wrk just to av sth in d media
But she said she was joking, how did threat come to the artmostphare of joke? She is economical wth the truth.