School partially shaves heads of 14 girls for incorrectly wearing Islamic head scarves in Indonesia

Jakarta: A school in Indonesia has partially shaved the heads of 14 girls after they were accused of wearing their Islamic hijab headscarves incorrectly.

Reports say, an unidentified teacher at state-owned junior high school SMPN 1 in the East Java town of Lamongan partially shaved the hair of 14 Muslim girls last Wednesday.

The headmaster Harto informed that the school had apologised and the teacher had been suspended. As the school girls did not wear inner caps under their headscarves, their fringes were visible, as per reported by AFP.

“There is no obligation for female students to wear hijab, but they were advised to wear the inner caps for neat appearance,” said Harto.

Following the incident, the school initiated mediation with the affected students’ parents and reached a mutual understanding. Furthermore, the school has committed to providing psychological assistance to the girls to help them cope with the trauma.

The headscarf issue grabbed headlines in 2021 after a Christian student in West Sumatra was pressured to wear a hijab in a case officials described as the “tip of the iceberg”.

(Input from Agencies)