(Brussels Signal) The Austrian government is trying — once again — to ban girls from wearing headscarves in schools.
Late yesterday, the council of ministers, a co-ordination group for the coalition government, agreed on a draft law that aims to prevent predominantly Muslim girls under 14 from wearing religious headgear in schools, either voluntarily or under duress.
Education minister Christoph Wiederkehr (of the small, liberal Neos party) said he was “optimistic” that the new law would pass muster with Austria’s Constitutional Court.
In 2020, the court had struck down a similar law passed by the government of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz (Austrian People’s Party, ÖVP), saying it violated constitutional legislation on religious freedom.
