The Kwara State Government has clarified its position on the use of hijab in public schools.
The government in a statement signed by the secretary to the state government, Mamman Jibril, said the female students in public schools are not mandated to wear hijab.
According to the statement, the approval on the use of hijab by Muslim female students in public schools was in respect to the fundamental human rights of the schoolgirls.
“It is important to clarify that the government is not imposing the hijab. It is not mandatory for all our schoolgirls to wear hijab,” it said.Advertisement
“Rather, the state government approves hijab for any Muslim schoolgirl who wishes to use it. The government is only respecting the fundamental human right of those schoolgirls. Nothing more.
“This has been communicated to all school heads via a circular of the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development.”
The state government said stopping Muslim schoolgirls from wearing hijab in public schools is a “violent contravention of provisions of Section 38 of the constitution”.
“Secondly, the law today is that any willing Muslim schoolgirl cannot be stopped from wearing hijab in public schools. Anything to the contrary will be in violent contravention of provisions of Section 38 of the Constitution,”
Okay.ng understands that this is coming following the controversy that degenerated into violence on Wednesday in Ilorin, where Christians and Muslims engaged in a confrontation after the decision of the state government to reopen 10 schools closed on February 19th over a dispute on the use of hijab.
