They are accused of wearing their Islamic headscarves incorrectly. To punish these fifteen girls, a teacher from a school in Indonesia partially shaved their hair, the school director said on Monday. In some conservative parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, students are required to wear the hijab, which is part of the public school uniform.
A teacher at SMPN 1 middle school in the city of Lamongan in East Java province disciplined 14 Muslim students for their improper dress by shaving part of their hair, according to Harto, the school principal. “There is no requirement for students to wear the hijab but they were advised to wear caps to look decent,” said the headmaster, who like many Indonesians has only one name.
“Apologies to parents”
These students who were not wearing a bonnet had left a fringe of their veil sticking out. After protests from families, “we apologized to the parents,” he said. The teacher has been suspended and the school will offer psychological assistance to the children concerned, added the director.
Human rights associations have called for the dismissal of the teacher, whose identity has not been revealed. “Lamongan’s case is probably the worst case of intimidation seen in Indonesia,” said Andreas Harsono, Human Rights Watch staffer in Indonesia. In a 2021 report, this human rights association reports that some students had their hijab cut off for not wearing it according to the rules, while others had bad grades or were expelled for not having worn the Islamic veil.
The Supreme Court and the Islamic veil
The case of a Christian student forced by her school to wear the veil in the region of West Sumatra had been reported by the media and described as one example among others. The Indonesian government responded by issuing a decree in 2021 allowing students and adults in public schools to choose their dress and prohibiting schools from making the Islamic veil compulsory.
But the Supreme Court canceled the text shortly after, finding that it was not in accordance with the law. Indonesia officially recognizes six religions but human rights defenders are concerned about the rise of religious intolerance in the country.