Thursday, November 16, 2017

British Muslim who applied for a teaching job in Kuwait is told she would have to remove her hijab because 'parents don't want their children taught by covered teachers'

  • Fouzia Khatun wanted a job at  The English Playgroup in Muslim-majority Kuwait
  • But the 23-year-old from Bradford said she was told she must remove her hijab
  • She said demand was 'offensive' - but the company said her claims are 'untrue'
  • Fouzia also said it made her feel 'very blessed' to grow up in 'accepting' England 

Fouzia Khatun (pictured), 23, hoped to work at The English Playgroup in the Muslim-majority Gulf state - where she felt she would be 'more accepted' than in the UK
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Fouzia Khatun (pictured), 23, hoped to work at The English Playgroup in the Muslim-majority Gulf state - where she felt she would be 'more accepted' than in the UK
A British Muslim who applied for a job as a nursery teacher in Kuwait was told she would have to remove her hijab because it is 'an English school'.
Fouzia Khatun, 23, hoped to work at The English Playgroup in the Muslim-majority Gulf state - where she felt she would be 'more accepted' than in the UK.
But after applying for the job, she got an email from the school's HR staff reading: 'Parents don't want their children taught by covered teachers. It is an English school'.
It added that Fouzia would not be allowed to wear her headscarf on the premises if she wanted the job at the fee-paying school - and that this was 'non negotiable'.
The English Playgroup Educational Company has since claimed the comments were 'by a new employee' and said it 'proudly employs' hijab-wearing staff.
The school's website said children are 'taught by the very best trained English specialist teachers' using the 'English National Curriculum'.
Fouzia, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who currently works as a teaching assistant, said the email was 'offensive'.
She said: 'When I received that via email I couldn't believe what I was reading.
British-born Fouzia (centre), from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who currently works as a teaching assistant, said the email was 'offensive'. She added: 'It has made me feel very blessed to have grown up in England, where we are clearly so much more accepting'

British-born Fouzia (centre), from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who currently works as a teaching assistant, said the email was 'offensive'. She added: 'It has made me feel very blessed to have grown up in England, where we are clearly so much more accepting'
'It might sound unusual, but to me being asked to leave the house without my hijab is like being asked to go out without a top on.
'It doesn't represent my religion - it is part of me.
'I am a loud, bubbly, chatty, normal British girl and my hijab is part of that same identity.
'To have them suggest that British parents or an English school wouldn't want me to wear it is very offensive.


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