Counter-Petition Launched against Request to Lift Ban on Religious Dress in Kosovo Schools

Campaign to allow wearing the headscarf in Kosovo high schools faces resistance as counter-petitions launched.

Illustration: BIRN/Jete Dobranja

An online petition against the wearing of headscarves by Muslim girls in schools has been initiated in Kosovo, following an earlier petition calling for girls who wear a headscarf to be allowed to attend public schools was closed by organisers on Saturday over claims that their campaign had caught the necessary attention of decision-makers.

The petition, “Stop the wearing of headscarves in schools in Kosovo”, has received around 1,500 signatures in two days.

On Saturday, the organiser of the campaign “Ndryshojeni Udhezimin Administrativ per shamine” (Change the Administrative Instruction on the Headscarf), the legal expert Durim Berisha, announced he was ending his campaign after the online petition “for 48 hours received over 20,000 signatures, of which 45 per cent were from women”.

The campaign of Berisha, originally from Kosovo but currently based in Dusseldorf, Germany, targeted an article in the code of conduct and disciplinary measures for Kosovo high schools. “Students are not allowed… to wear religious dress,” the article reads.

According to Berisha, the campaign attracted many “Islamophobes”, but also the attention of decision-makers including Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the Education Ministry, which he claimed on his Facebook page had pledged to change the administrative instruction by the start of the school year in September.

“We assure you that, in the event the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation does not fulfil the legal obligation, as it has promised to do, we will use the legal means in force to ensure legality,” Berisha wrote, adding that, “Starting today, we ask you to stop commenting on the posts of public office holders.”

The issue over the school dress code has attracted a lot of online comment, with some supporting the campaign citing freedom of religion, while others were against it, arguing that allowing headscarves in schools might cause violations of the rights of women from a very young age.

Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti said in a press conference on Friday that there would be a “draft law on religious communities. My stance is that there should not be a difference between the headscarf and other religious elements in the lives of citizens. The age of 16 years old is the threshold.”

The issue has been brewing since late March, early April, when a photo was widely shared on social media of the entrance of the Nexhmedin Nixha Technical High School in Gjakova/Djakovica showing a sign banning the wearing of the Muslim headscarf alongside those banning guns, tobacco and cosmetic products.

Kosovo’s Council of the Islamic Community subsequently asked the Education Ministry to change the administrative instruction, calling the prohibition a reflection of a “mindset of the past”.

“Religious principles do not damage or pose a risk to society. On the contrary, they educate, teach and ennoble,” the Council of the Islamic Community statement read.