The Federal Council will have to examine the possibility of banning the wearing of the veil in schools. The National supported on Monday by 104 votes to 77 a postulate from the Center in this sense.
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All children must be able to develop unhindered in our training establishments, without having to wear a veil. These clothes which discriminate against Muslim girls and demonstrate their obligation to act submissive are contrary to the Swiss Constitution, according to the postulate of Marianne Binder-Keller (Center/AG) taken up by Jacqueline de Quattro (PLR/VD).
All children must be able to enjoy the same rights. “The veil stigmatizes a minority of girls, on the grounds that it is a question of religious freedom, and undermines their freedom,” according to the text.
The Federal Council did not consider it necessary to intervene on the subject. The competence to legislate in religious matters falls under the Constitution to the cantons, the same goes for public education.
In addition, cantonal and municipal authorities already have the legal arsenal necessary to protect children. These case-by-case solutions seem more appropriate than a ban on the veil at school valid for the whole of Switzerland.
A general ban on the wearing of the veil in public schools would also be unconstitutional according to the case law of the Federal Court. The latter considered in 2015 in a case concerning the canton of St. Gall that a general ban on schoolgirls wearing the veil in public schools would be a serious and disproportionate attack on religious freedom.
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