On Sunday, Oct. 22, Kazakhstan announced that the country will be banning hijabs in schools in order to ensure schools don’t favor a certain religion.   

The Kazakhstan government’s recent choice to ban hijabs in school has started up problems amongst the Muslims of Kazakhstan. According to Anatolij Weisskopf in her article “Kazakhstan Announces Ban on Hijabs in Schools,” “Kazakhstan was a secular country and should therefore avoid privileging any religion.” The government has said this to ensure no religion is being favored. 

“I think religion should be taught in school the same way history is taught in school and gender ideology is taught in school,” said Kabeer Ali, senior. “My reasoning is because religion has built human beings up. Without religion, we would not have morals, without morals we would not have society, without society we would just be animals.” 

“I think schools don’t have the right to control if religion in general should be allowed in schools,” said Maham Farooq, a sophomore. 

“Schools should not be allowed to ban hijabs since hijabs have always been a part of history,” said Humera Sharief, teaching assistant. “Many women wear hijabs throughout history books, even people who are not Muslim.”

Authorities have stated that allowing religious attire in schools may make it easier for people with extremist leanings to go unnoticed. Muslims have been upset about the ban. According to Weisskopf, “the ban is a violation to our freedom of religion rights.” 

“Hijabs don’t break the dress code since it only covers your head and hair,” Farooq said. “I think we could protest to try and get over this whole situation that’s going on in Kazakhstan right now” 

“Kazakhstan is going to fail since, if I’m correct, most of their population are Muslims who wear hijabs,” Ali said. 

When the ban began, many students considered if they should stay in school or leave. According to Weisskopf, “Muslims all over Pakistan and in the Turkestan, region have started to drop out of schools since the ban.  

Weisskopf’s article mentions that “Kazakh Education Minister Gani Beisembayev confirmed that in the Atyrau region alone, 150 girls have dropped out of school since the beginning of September because of the ban.” 

Students who wear hijabs will not be the only ones not being allowed to wear hijabs. According to Samma Web Desk’s article “Kazakhstan Bans Hijabs,” “The Kazakhstan government has decided to ban the hijab headscarf for…teachers in schools. They argue that this is necessary to maintain a secular state. However, this decision has caused strong reactions within the country.” 

“We do not want to advertise our beauty. When you wear this, it means the whole body also,” Sharief said. 

With a population made up of 70% Muslims, it seems like this ban in Kazakhstan is not going to last very long.