Teachers sacked, suspended for wearing niqab

The ministry of education has sacked a Qura’n teacher because she refused to take off her niqab, or full-face veil, for work.

Thahmeena Mahmoud was sacked Monday from her job at the Alif Alif Atoll Education Center after the school repeatedly warned her to remove her niqab.

The ministry says the niqab is banned under a Civil Service Commission guideline that states civil servants “must be dressed in a manner that makes them identifiable easily”, according to local media.

In a separate development, also in Alif Alif atoll, the principal of the Mathiveri Island School sent Aishath Suzy, a grade one teacher, home on January 24 because she arrived at work dressed in the niqab.