United Kingdom: Furious locals call Indian-origin principal 'Hitler' over hijab ban

Neena Lall, head teacher of St Stephens School, Newham, east London has been tagged as 'Hitler' all over social media for her deliberate efforts to ban hijab among her young students.

Belonging to Indian-origin, Lall is the principal of one of United Kingdom's leading schools. Lall had imposed a ban on hijab for girls under the age of eight at her school but had to reverse the ban after facing immense backlash.

A video was circulated over social media, in which Lall was portrayed as Adolf Hitler and the schools former chairman of governors as Russian dictator Stalin, with other management team shown as Hitlers acolytes.

But, Lall's subordinates disagreed to her being portrayed as one. "It is a very good school. Neena is a very good head teacher," one of the schools governors told the Sunday Times in defense of the head teacher.

At a meeting of the parents and the school management on Monday attended by local Labour party MP Stephen Timms, Lall was forced to apologise as she confirmed the reversal of the governing body's previously approved ban on hijabs for very young pupils.

"The schools uniform policy is based on the health, safety and welfare of our children. The school has taken the decision to make changes to this policy with immediate effect and this follows on from conversations with our school community," the school said in a statement.

"We will work with our school community to continue to review this policy going forward in the best interests of our children," it added.

The school has majority students of India, Bangladeshi and Pakistani descent. The school even had asked UK government to clear the guidelines on hijab and religious fasting to prevent a backlash from parents.

Arif Qawi, the chair of governors, had resigned from his post last week following offensive messages posted on social media against him and Lall.

According to Sunday Times, Qawi said he is prepared to return as chairman if ministers give a clear signal that they will support the school's right to set a policy regarding the uniform. The school campaigners believe that making very young girls wear the hijab is wrong because it is traditionally not worn until puberty.

Under the UKs Department for Education guidelines, uniform policy is a matter for individual head teachers and their governing bodies. But it did express concerns over intimidation via social media.

"Intimidation or bullying towards school staff or pupils is unacceptable. Anyone who feels they are facing either should report it to police," a spokesperson said.

It was listed as the best school in England in the Schools Guide 2018 for a strong teaching record.

With inputs from PTI