Samone, Italy - A Moroccan woman has been denied a job at a private nursery school in northern Italy because of her Islamic headscarf, media reports said on Tuesday.
Fatima Mouayche, a 40-year-old divorcée and mother of two, had recently completed a teachers' training course and was due to start her apprenticeship at the Mieli & CriCri school of Samone, a small town near Ivrea.
Days before she was due to start, however, she was told she would not be able to work there.
According to Miriam Meli, one of the school's principals, Mouayche could not be given a job because of her headscarf.
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'These rules are fair, because the children could otherwise be scared' "This is not a question of prejudice, racism or fear. Our rules say that teachers must wear a school smock and all of them have their hair tied up," Meli was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.
"We think these rules are fair, because the children could otherwise be scared," Meli added.
Cristina Ferrari, the school's headmistress, denies allegations of racism.
"We even prepared a private room for her to be able to pray," she said.
There are concerns, however, that the school may have acted in response to protests from parents.
Discrimination of workers on the basis of their religious practices is expressly forbidden under Italian law.
And Mouayche now says she is prepared to take off her headscarf to keep her job.
But local Muslim groups fear that the case may be a sign that Italy wishes to follow the recent example set out by France and ban Muslim headscarves from schools.
Asked by La Repubblica what had angered her the most, Mouayche said: "I think about Catholic nuns, I think that their clothes are not that different from mine after all." - Sapa-dpa
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