Kousar Bashir
A private school teacher from Anantnag town took to social media and said that she was fired by the school authorities for objecting to denial of permission to a young schoolgirl for wearing a Jilbab.
Sabahat speaking to The Kashmiriyat said that she was fired from the school after she raised concern over a girl from class 6th who was shamed for her face cover by the school authorities the last week. “I do not have issues with what people wear, but I just want people to be free to choose what they want to wear, nobody should be shamed for their dress,” Sabahat told.
I deleted the tweet yesterday because I thought I was being impulsive and I should talk to the management first. I did, I talked to the MD and he said that they will today something about it. Today when I came to school, in the second period I was called to principal's office https://t.co/lMhbw1H58Q
— Emma Bovary (@KeashirEmma) November 26, 2021
She said that she raised the issue with the school authorities who told her that the issue would be addressed. She had tweeted on Thursday, she says, however, she removed the tweet after the school authorities told her that they would look into the matter, adding, “I told them that nobody should be stopped from wearing Hijab if they wanted to.” Sabahat said she was also told that she was playing with the hard-earned reputation of the school.
She alleged the school authorities told her that they did not want to set a precedent for other girls in the school. “They informed me on Friday morning (today) that I had to meet the principal. Upon reaching the principal’s office I was handed over the termination letter,” she told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
“I do not understand, why I was terminated for simply saying what I felt was right, I do not think the reason was justified,” she stated.
Meanwhile the parents of the girl, who is 11 years old confirmed the occurrence of the incident. “They have asked us to visit the school tomorrow, We do not understand why our young child was targeted for her dress,” her mother said.
The Kashmiriyat also spoke to the principal of the school who denied the allegation as baseless and asked the team of The Kashmiriyat to visit the school premises and check how many girls in the school wear Hijab and face cover. “My own daughters and wife wears a Hijab,” he said.
He also claimed that Sabahat was on her probation period and she was terminated due to her performance. “Her termination has nothing to do with the issue,” he claimed.