Belgium: Teacher suspended for discriminating against students without headscarves

Belgium: Teacher suspended for discriminating against students without headscarves

Via De Standaard (Dutch):

Mohammed G. (58) has been teaching in the Royal Athenum Verdi in Verviers since 2004. In 2010 an inspector reported 'bizarre behavior' by the teacher, and informed the school that the teacher preached radical points of view in his lessons.

The school investigated, resulting in a disastrous report by two inspectors. One student said that Mohammed had told her that her mother would burn in hell because her mother was Catholic. Another that the teacher reproached her, a Muslim girl, for walking hand-in-hand with a boy.

The teacher called girls without a headscarf 'sinners'. According to the inspectors he also discriminated against students without a headscarf: they automatically got lower grades. Mohammed G. also had his students learn Koran verses by heart, though that wasn't part of the curriculum.

The school administration decided to suspect the teacher for four months. Mohammed G. turned to the Council of State saying this violated his right to freedom of expression. The Council ruled against him: he'll be suspended for four months and get half his salary during that time.