Getting advised by a teacher or director to not wear a headscarf

CAN A TEACHER OR DIRECTOR IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVISE A MUSLIM STUDENT TO AVOID WEARING A HEADSCARF AT SCHOOL?

Summarized: A public-school teacher or director is subject to the code of neutrality because of their status as an official. This obliges them to respect the viewpoints of their students and their parents and to distance themselves completely from questions of religion. They are therefore not allowed to dissuade Muslim students from wearing a headscarf or make any sort of comments in that direction. 

It’s up to Muslim students to wear a headscarf at public school as long as it’s a religiously motivated action (see: here).¹ Despite this, Muslim students have reported their teachers ‘advising’ them against wearing a headscarf, in some cases even stating that their wearing it could impact their grades. Such ‘advice’ and any kind of attempt to influence the behavior of a Muslim student to prevent her from wearing a headscarf, even though her wearing it is religiously motivated, is unlawful. 

It is also not permitted for teachers or school administration to make evaluations or assessments on the religious beliefs of the students. The mere prospect of a poor evaluation because of such reasons would be inadmissible. The state must remain neutral towards all its citizens regardless of their confession and cannot evaluate or decide the contents of a faith.² As civil servants, teachers are subject to a duty of neutrality arising from Article 33 (5) of the Basic Law, which prevents them from making their own religious and ideological convictions the yardstick for their official actions.³ As part of this duty to serve objectively and neutrally, they must respect the viewpoints and students and their parents⁴ and stay out of matters of religion altogether.⁵

^{1 Wissenschaftlicher Dienst des deutschen Bundestages v. 26.01.2017, Schule u. Religionsfreiheit- Wäre ein Kopftuchverbot für Schülerinnen rechtlich zulässig?, Az. WD 3 – 3000 – 277/16, page 17.} 

^{2 Maunz/Dürig/Korioth in Grundgesetz-Kommentar, 81st update 2017, WRV Art. 137 margin 9-10.} 

^{3 Germann in Grundgesetz (BeckOK) 38th ED. 2018, Art. 4 margin 56.3.} 

^{4 Federal Constitutional Court, case from 24.09.2003, 2 BVR 1436/02 margin 21.} 

^{5 Maunz/Dürig/Badura in Grundgesetz, 82. Update 2018, Art, 33 margin 43.}