“Unconstitutional”: Headscarf ban in Austrian kindergartens falls

The headscarf ban in kindergartens, which is still in force at the moment, falls. The measure will no longer be included in the new 15a agreement between the federal and state governments, the Federal Chancellery confirmed to the APA. The Constitutional Service had previously come to the conclusion in a statement available to the APA that the headscarf ban “should not be compatible with the Federal Constitution”.

A new 15a agreement is currently being negotiated between the federal and state governments, as the current regulation expires at the end of August. One of the last sticking points was the headscarf ban – the federal states had resisted combining the issues of childcare and the headscarf ban and questioned the constitutional conformity of the regulation. For elementary schools, the regulation introduced by the ÖVP-FPÖ government has already been repealed by the Constitutional Court (VfGH).

The new 15a agreement could now be presented tomorrow, Friday, as part of the state governors’ conference in Vorarlberg. This should include a “kindergarten billion” distributed over the next five years, with which the federal states will receive money for the compulsory kindergarten year, the expansion of the offer and language support.

https://www.vikendi.net/2022/05/19/unconstitutional-headscarf-ban-in-kindergartens-falls/