By  Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

BRUSSELS — The decision of a Brussels school to deny Muslim girls the right to wear hijab has motivated them to champion a protest campaign, the latest episode of the hijab debate in the European country.

“The hijab ban has no ground and the administration offered no explanation and did not consult with teachers or parents,” reads a petition circulated by Muslim students in the Institut des Ursulines in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek.

The Catholic school, where Muslims comprise some 85 percent of the students, has decided to ban hijab starting the next academic year.

The controversial decision promoted Muslim students to launch a protest campaign, including a rally outside the school, which is located in an area with a large Muslim population.

“The decision, a violation of women rights, is unacceptable,” says the petition.

“It has caused us much distraction during our exam period and will threaten the educational future of tens of students next year.”

“It was never reported before that the hijab has caused any disruption of the educational process.”

Many students have already announced they will leave the school if forced to take off their hijab.

The petition urges the Belgian public to support the students’ cause in order to convince the school administration to rescind its controversial decision.

More than 1000 people, not only from Belgium but across Europe, have added their signatures to the petition.

The school administration has declined to speak to IOL on the reasons behind the ban.

Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations.

Complicated

Muslim leaders say the school decision highlights the complexity of the hijab debate in the country.

“Hijab ban is a complicated issue in Belgium, given that there is no law prohibiting it in public schools,” Karim Chemlal, leader of the Muslim League of Belgium, told IOL.

He added that the decision to ban the hijab is usually about the balance of power in every school.

“In schools with sizable numbers of Muslim students, parents associations usually have a strong voice in the issue,” Chemlal explained.

“On the other hands, administrations in schools with a small minority of Muslim students can pass a decision banning hijab more easily.”

The Muslim leader notes that the Ursulines Institut case stands as a stark breach of that arrangement since Muslims make up the majority of students, and yet the parents and educational boards were totally ignored.

The new controversy is only the latest episode in Belgium, home to some 450,000 Muslims mostly from Moroccan and Turkish origins.

Last November, Ghent City, Belgium’s third largest, decided to prohibit civil servants in contact with the public from donning hijab.

Belgium’s second city of Antwerp also banned hijab in 2007.

Chemlal, the Muslim leader, notes that most of the hijab bans happen in cities of the French-speaking part of Belgium, knows as Wallonie.

“Hijab phobia mainly concentrates in the capital Brussels and in the south on the borders with France.”

Hijab has been thrust into the limelight since France banned it in public schools and institutions back in 2004.

Several European countries have since followed the French lead.

Source: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1209357985780&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout