Students at
Muslim women are being stopped from entering the college if they are wearing the niqab, the face veil that some Muslim women choose to wear.
Aneela brought her son to the college to collect a reference today, Wednesday. She was stopped at the door by security and told it was college policy to not let her in as she was wearing a niqab.
She said, “I was shocked that something like this could be said at a college in
Angry students plan to demonstration against the ban this Friday, 13 September at 2.30pm outside the college.
Shaffaquat, a Business Administration student at the college, said, “It’s ridiculous, it needs to stop. This is a free country so women wearing the niqab should be free to wear what they want.”
Another student, Khabiba, said her friend completed the first year of her A Levels, but is not allowed back for the second year because she wears the niqab.
Birmingham Metropolitan is the third largest further education college in
However Muslim women students have said they will raise their veils so security guards can check their ID. The ban is an attack on religious freedoms.
Many of the women affected are often new to
Dame Christine Braddock, the Principal of
When the new college was built students were forced to campaign for the inclusion of a prayer room, which she refused. She responded to the campaign by expelling two of the students involved, and described their newsletter as “extremist”.
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