Indonesia has banned public schools from making religious attire compulsory after the story of a Christian student being pressured to wear a headscarf in class went viral.
The 16-year-old girl was attending a school that had a rule that all students had to wear the Muslim headscarf.
The government has given schools 30 days to revoke any existing rules.
Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, officially recognises other religions, but there are growing concerns about rising religious intolerance.
The ban was signed into decree on Friday, 5 February, and schools which do not comply may face sanctions.
She refused, and her parents were called in to speak to school officials.
Her parents secretly filmed a video of the meeting and posted it on social media, which prompted a backlash online.
In the video, the official insisted that the school had a rule that all female students, including non-Muslims, must wear the headscarf according to school rules.
“Almost every day, my daughter has been summoned for not wearing a headscarf, and her answer is that she is not Muslim,” Elianu Hia, the father of the girl said.
The school’s principal later apologised at a press conference and said the student would be allowed to dress according to her own religious beliefs.
At a media briefing on the decree religious affairs minister, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas was quoted as saying: “Religions do not promote conflict, neither do they justify acting unfairly against those who are different.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, but it officially recognises six religions and has enshrined pluralism in the state philosophy known as Pancasila.
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