Stockholm Muslim school slammed over sex segregation

Headmaster Hussein Ibrahim said he did not see anything wrong in segregating boys from girls

A private Muslim school in Sweden has come under fire for introducing separate gym classes for boys and girls.

The controversial gym lessons are being held in the Al-Azhar school in Stockholm. According to gym teacher Nina Da Mata, “the girls feel more secure when they are in a group of their own.”

PHOTO: Al-Azharskolan / Facebook

“Some of our girls want to be able to take off their veils and wear shorts and T-shirts in their classes. It would be difficult if there were boys of the same age or a male teacher,” Da Mata told Mivida, the Swedish Teachers Union newspaper, reports The Local.



The move has been criticised by Swedish officials who call it unacceptable for an “open and tolerant country”. An unidentified person notified Swedish school inspectors about the practice at the school, claiming they were worried rights were being violated.

However, the school’s headmaster explained to the inspectorate that students had a “Muslim cultural background”. In a television interview, the headmaster of the school,  Hussein Ibrahim said he didn’t see anything wrong in segregating boys from girls.

“The division was demanded by students, who otherwise had to skip PE classes,” he said, “If you look at any sport in the world, on the women's and men's national teams, you see that they play in different teams,” he said, adding that Al-Azhar was an “ordinary Swedish school with trained personnel.”

PHOTO: Al-Azharskolan / Facebook

The Swedish authorities were however “not amused” by the sex segregation practice in the school.  Swedish Education Minister Gustav Fridolin found it “surprising” that the Inspectorate allowed such a move.



“We are very clear in our curriculum and policy documents about work on gender equality. …We shall have responsibility to work against outdated gender norms and to build secure environments between girls and boys, where girls and boys meet,” he told Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.

Fridolin also said the Al-Azhar school arrangement was unacceptable. Further, he said that he is preparing to make “the necessary adjustments” and to analyse laws.

This article originally appeared on RT