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Egyptians outraged over some schools forcing girls to wear the hijab

A 13-year-old girl was recently forced to wear the hijab at her school in Egypt, which prompted a wave of condemnation that revealed similar practices across the country.
This picture taken on June 24, 2019 shows a woman standing with books in front of a shelf inside the main building of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina library in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria. - The Bibliotheca, established in 2002, serves as a modern-day commemoration of the Library of Alexandria of antiquity, and a modern-day public library and educational centre. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP)        (Photo credit should read GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

CAIRO — Controversy has recently surfaced in Egypt after a 13-year-old girl was forced to wear the hijab at the school she attends in Sharqia governorate. The incident has shed light on similar cases across the country. 

Lamia Loutfi, the girl’s Muslim mother and program manager at the New Woman Foundation, a human rights institution based in Cairo that provides support to female victims of violence and discrimination, filed complaints Oct. 21 against the school’s teachers over their attempts to force girls, including her daughter, to wear the hijab.

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