Ofsted: debate about hijabs is legitimate

MUSLIM girls should not be forced to wear headscarves in schools just because they are facing pressures from their families, the head of Ofsted has suggested.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, made the comments as she was grilled by MPS about Muslim primary schoolchildren being questioned about hijabs during inspections.

It follows a recommendation by the schools’ watchdog in 2017 stating officials should ask girls who wear garments such as hijabs “why they do so in school”.

Ms Spielman last year publicly offered her backing to the head teacher of a primary school when she faced a backlash for trying to ban the youngest Muslim girls wearing the hijab.

Giving evidence to the public accounts committee, Ms Spielman was questioned by Shabana Mahmood, a Labour MP, about why pupils who are simply trying to look like their mothers should be scrutinised by state officials.

She replied: “My concern is that children at school should be free from the pressures that exist in many communities outside of it.

“We know that some children are feeling pressurised to wear headscarves, that it can make children unhappy to be told they are not good because they are not wearing one.

“This is something that is difficult and is contested, but I don’t think we can say that the solution is children should simply be ‘allowed to look like their mothers’.”

Ms Spielman said she would write to the committee to provide further detail about how Muslim schoolgirls were questioned.