Makhachkala residents shocked by secret registration of schoolgirls in hijabs

Officials from the Dagestani Ministry of Education and Science and the City Education Department explained the collection of information about girls wearing hijabs in Makhachkala schools by an initiative of teachers. City residents expressed their indignation by the fact that the information is being collected without the knowledge of the schoolgirls' parents.

For the first time, a message reporting that two schools in Makhachkala register schoolgirls wearing hijabs was posted on the "Godekan" Telegram channel on October 9.

The Dagestani Ministry of Education and Science is not engaged in collecting data on schoolgirls wearing hijabs, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been told today by an official of the press service for the Ministry. "Questioning in schools is being carried out independently. The initiative does not come from the Ministry of Education, but it arises at the school level. The Ministry of Education is not involved in this initiative," the official said.

Some parents of Makhachkala schoolgirls told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they considered it unacceptable to collect personal information about children without permission of their parents.

In particular, Omar Isaev emphasized that the collection of the statistical data about a family and a child without notifying parents raises concern. "We do not know how the information will be used by the state bodies in the future. I speak against the collection of such information in a secret semi-illegal format, when teachers are instructed to collect the information secretly," the man said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 11, 2019 at 02:25 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.