The Islamic veil remains forbidden for Bavarian teachers. On Monday January 15, in Munic, the state constitutional tribunal rejected the appeal of an islamic religious community, originally from Berlin, to revoke the 2005 law that forbids the veil for teachers in the Bavarian schools. Arguing that the law restricts religious liberty and goes against the principle of equality, the plaintants denounced a situation where nuns are permitted to teach in their habit but women who wear the veil are not. The tribunal followed the arguments of the Bavarian governmnet, which considered the nun’s habit to be compatible with the fundamental values and the educational objectives of Bavarian law. The debate is far from over. In 2006, the administrative tribunal of Stuttgart rescinded the legislation of Baden-Wurtemburg, upholding the argument of a teacher who denounced the treatment of veiled teachers as unequal. In Bavaria, the battle could begin again. The Munich tribunal upheld the Bavarian legislation without making an explicit statement on the headscarf.
