City college backtracks on ban on face veils

Birmingham Metropolitan College originally said students must remove all hoodies, hats, caps and veils while on the premises so that they were easily identifiable.

Prime Minister David Cameron backed the decision, with his spokesman saying he believed educational institutions should be able to “set and enforce their own school uniform policies”.

But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was “uneasy” about the ban and believed the bar had to be set “very high” to justify any prohibition on wearing a veil.

The college has now issued a statement saying it has decided to modify its stance to allow individuals to wear “specific items of personal clothing to reflect their cultural values”.

The decision came after thousands signed a petition against the ban and ahead of a planned protest by hundreds of students which was due to take place yesterday in Birmingham.

More than 9,000 people signed an online petition set up by NUS Black Students’ Campaign calling on the college’s principal Dr Christine Braddock to remove the ban.

Aaron Kiely, NUS Black Students’ officer, said: “The NUS Black Students’ Campaign completely condemns the decision by Birmingham Metropolitan College to ban Muslim students from wearing veils on campus.

“This ban is a complete infringement on the rights to religious freedom and cultural expression and is a clear violation of a woman’s right to choose.

“Women in Britain are rightly free to wear religious dress. We will be exploring all options to robustly challenge this outrageous decision.”

A statement posted on the college’s Facebook page on Thursday night said: “We are concerned that recent media attention is detracting from our core mission of providing high quality learning. As a consequence, we will modify our policies to allow individuals to wear specific items of personal clothing to reflect their cultural values.”