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October 16, 2006
UK: Muslim MP Agrees Veil Teacher Should Be Sacked
We wrote yesterday that Britain's race and faith minister, Phil Woolas, said Muslim teaching assistant, 23-year old Aishah Azmi, should be sacked. We wrote on October 13 that the woman was employed to help children who needed help with language, coming as they did from homes where English was not the first language.
She was suspended from the Headfield Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Children said that they could not understand her, and she was asked to remove her veil. She refused. A revealing interview on the BBC showed that she had not worn the veil at her initial interview at the school. This interview can be seen on YouTube. Another interview with Azmi, in RealPlayer audio format, can be found here.
Today, the Times states that a Muslim member of parliament has agreed that Aishah Azmi has compromised her integrity as a teacher. Labour MP for Dewsbury, Shahid Malik, as we already wrote, had earlier stated: "In schools the top priority has got to be the education of our children. I fully support the decision of the education authority and the school in requesting the classroom assistant remove her veil when teaching primary school children."
"I believe the education authority has bent over backwards to be accommodating and has been extremely reasonable and sensible in the decision it has come to. There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children.'
Now, according to the Times, he states: "The basic thrust of what Phil says is just common sense. If you are not able to fulfil your job requirements then obviously it will be difficult for you to continue in that particular role."
Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain, who has previously openly supported Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, called Phil Woolas' comments an 'outrageous intervention from government."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 16, 2006 4:59 AM
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