Germany Ends Teacher Headscarf Ban

Germany's highest court has struck down a ban on head scarves for State school teachers as unconditional.

The court ruled that a 2004 ban violated religious freedom.

The case was brought by two female  Muslim teachers who had previously been forced to wear alternative head dress.

The ban was imposed on the grounds that head scarves could lead to disruption in classrooms and prompt questions about a teacher's neutrality. Christian symbols were exempted from the ban

On Friday, the court ruled that schools will now need to show "not only an abstract but a sufficiently specific risk" to justify a ban on the earlier grounds.

It also decided that a clause exempting "Christian and "blanket ban on religious expression... based on the outward appearance of educators" was incompatible with religious freedoms.

The teachers originally  brought the case against a local law in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Other States across the country also ban teachers from wearing head scarves, but this ruling strikes out these laws as well.

Source:BBC