Female teachers at a Muslim school in northern England have been ordered to wear headscarves during school hours, even if they are not Muslim, reported UK-based The Telegraph.

Teachers have signed contracts agreeing to wear the Islamic hijab and make girls sit at the back of classrooms, separate from male students.

The school has 200 students aged four to 16 and has other Islam-related rules, including the prohibition of non-Halal food.

According to the newspaper, the state-funded school is currently being investigated by the UK Department of Education regarding the matter.

“We are very worried about the school and the education of the 200 children there…It’s one thing to have a dress code which we can challenge and quite another to build it into a contract,” said Nick Raine, an officer working for the National Union of Teachers.

Sue Arguile, an employee of Derby National Union of Teachers, said to The Telegraph: “There are worries over practices concerning the discrimination between male and female pupils in the school, with the girls being told to sit at the back of the class regardless of whether they can see the board properly. This school was first launched as based on Muslim principles and not as a Muslim school.”



Last Update: Friday, 20 September 2013 KSA 15:58 - GMT 12:58