Headscarved students barred from schools in Azerbaijan as parents protest

Students wearing headscarves have begun to be turned away from schools in Azerbaijan following a change to school uniform rules, prompting protests by pupils and parents and tense scenes at some schools.

Students wearing headscarves have begun to be denied entry to schools in Azerbaijan. Footage filmed in a schoolyard shows girls in headscarves and school uniforms protesting the decision, with adults joining them.

The move follows changes to school uniform rules adopted on Sept. 21 by the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Ali Asadov. The rules do not name the headscarf explicitly but bar clothing that violates the integrity of the school uniform or the principle of secularism, which has amounted to a de facto ban.

Doors locked from inside

A school in Baku (file photo)

According to Turkish media reports, headscarved girls at Secondary School No. 9 in Jalilabad were stopped at the entrance and sent home, and the school administration locked the doors from inside, preventing protesting parents from entering. Similar scenes were reported at schools in Sumgait.

Other footage shows a group of parents gathered in a school lobby by its glass doors. Some Turkish outlets claimed that angry parents broke school windows, but this has not been independently verified.

Earlier, students at several schools boycotted classes in protest at the restrictions. A separate Cabinet decision, No. 325, regulating teachers’ attire has also drawn criticism. Civil society groups are calling for barriers to the right to education and freedom of religion to be removed.