خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.
أكد قادة اتحاد الجامعات والكليات البريطاني دعمه لحق المسلمات في ارتداء الملابس الشرعية التي تتناسب مع معتقداتهن، في خطوة لدعم مشاركة الأقليات في العملية التعليمية، وخاصة المرأة.

وقد أكد رئيس الاتحاد "ألن ويتاكر" - في حديثه عن فعاليات اللقاء الذي يشارك فيه عدد من أعضاء الاتحاد والأكاديميين - أن الاتحاد بالرغم من علمانيته إلا أنه غير مناهض للحقوق الدينية، مؤكدًا تأييده لحرية ممارسة الأفراد للأديان التي يعتقدونها.

وأشار أيضًا إلى أن اللقاء سيتضمن مناقشة حظر "جامعة بيرنلي" لارتداء النقاب العام الماضي، والتعرض لاستفتاء حظر بناء المآذن بـ"سويسرا". المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

Lecturers back students' right to wear the burkha

Banning religious clothing would discourage diversity in higher education, union leaders warn

Students should have the right to wear religious attire, such as burkhas, in colleges and universities, lecturers will be told tomorrow.

Leaders of the University and College Union (UCU) will pledge their support for the right of people of all faiths "to wear the religious head-dress and other religious attire appropriate to their faiths".

The union argues that the move is essential to encourage participation in further and higher education among ethnic minority groups – particularly women.

Delegates will also debate an amendment condemning what it calls "the alarming precedent" of a UK college prohibiting students from wearing the veil in college. Burnley College in Lancashire took the decision last year on security grounds. In 2009, it had also refused a student permission to enrol at the college while she was wearing a veil.

The debate comes on the heels of the French government's decision to ban the wearing of the veil in public – a move criticised by the union as evidence of increasing Islamophobia. Other countries, such as Austria, are said to be considering similar moves to France if the number of women wearing veils grows.

"Anybody should be free to wear what they choose to follow their beliefs," said Alan Whitaker, president of the UCU. "That has been a principle of the union. We are a secular union but that doesn't mean we're anti-religion.

"We're in favour of people's freedom to practise any religion they choose, and to be able to follow the customs of that religion – and that includes what clothing they wear".