The Supreme Court of Kazakhstan defended the headscarf schoolgirl
The Supreme Court of Kazakhstan defended a schoolgirl who was excluded from class for wearing a headscarf. The Supreme Court recognized that the actions of the school management violated the student's right to education. The girl's lawyer stated that similar cases have already been considered in Pavlodar, Karaganda, Almaty and Turkestan regions, and in all cases the regional courts recognized that the rights of schoolgirls were violated.
Ulysmedia.kz reports that the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan defended a schoolgirl who was excluded from class for wearing a headscarf.
Jaslan Aytmaganbetov, a well-known lawyer who defended the girl's interests, informed about this. According to him, the situation happened in one of the schools in the West Kazakhstan region, and the student was not included in the lesson because he was wearing a headscarf.
Court decision
The student's parents and lawyer tried to protect the girl's rights in various instances, and the case finally reached the Supreme Court. According to the court's decision, the behavior of the school management violated the student's right to education.
"The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan recognized that such restrictions violate the right to education and annulled the decision of the regional court," the lawyer said on his social media page.
Jaslan Aitmaganbetov also noted that the girl's school uniform was not damaged during the trial. "The order does not say anything about headgear or shoes , only about religious attributes. When the judge asked: "Is there an expert opinion confirming that this scarf is related to religious attributes ?", the defendants could not provide such evidence, Aytmaganbetov explained.
The lawyer said that similar cases have already been considered in Pavlodar, Karaganda, Almaty and Turkestan regions, and in all cases the regional courts recognized that the rights of schoolgirls were violated.
In 2022, more than 1,600 parents of Muslim schoolchildren appealed to the p resident Tokaev, asking him to open prayer rooms in schools and to cancel the ban on wearing headscarves, or to allow Muslim students to study online.
Public debates
In 2023, the issue of banning the headscarf and hijab in schools continued to cause controversy in Kazakhstan. Some insisted on wearing a uniform, while others had no problem wearing a headscarf. In June, a video went viral on social media showing that a Kazakh schoolgirl was not allowed to go to the final call because of her hijab.
Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balaeva said that many people are using this topic for their own benefit. The Minister of Education Gani Beysembaev once again emphasized the need to separate religion from the education system in 2024.
