Azerbaijan has introduced new dress requirements for teachers at state schools, raising concerns that rules intended to promote secularism and ‘business attire’ could restrict freedom of expression and the right of hijab-wearing teachers to practise their profession. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the requirements on Wednesday, following a July decree by President Ilham Aliyev calling for a unified approach to dress in state education institutions. The rules require teachers’ clothing and accessories to comply with the principle of secularism and place responsibility for enforcement on school administrations. The move comes weeks after similar restrictions were introduced for students, with reports that hijab-wearing pupils were barred from attending classes at some schools. Lawyers and rights advocates have questioned whether the new rules are sufficiently justified and warned that they could have implications for freedom of expression and freedom of conscience. Is Azerbaijan banning the hijab in public schools? Reports of girls being expelled or banned from school for wearing hijab have led to speculation on the further repression of religious expression. OC Media Aytan Farhadova According to the authorities, the aim of the new rules is to promote ‘a culture of business attire’ in state schools and ensure a uniform approach to teachers’ appearance. Under the new requirements, teachers’ clothing and accessories must comply with the principle of secularism in general education. School administrations will be responsible for ensuring that the rules are followed. Lawyer Yalchin Imanov told Qazetci that standardised clothing carries messages about a person’s status, role, and affiliation. ‘These messages are a form of non-verbal communication that conveys information about a person’s status, role, and affiliation. It also emphasises professional identity, as is the case with the uniforms worn by police officers, military personnel, and judges’, Imanov said. However, he argued that clothing is also connected to freedom of expression. ‘Clothing falls under the concept of freedom of expression. The choice of clothing is one of the strongest forms of expression of a person’s inner world’, he said. Imanov said that while teachers may be expected to comply with certain standards in educational institutions, the new requirements were insufficiently justified. ‘For example, the rules state that male teachers must wear classic shoes. What kind of shoes does that mean? If they mean shoes with heels, some people may need to wear flat shoes for health reasons. What are they supposed to do?’, he said. He added that similar questions could arise regarding the requirements for women’s clothing, arguing that the rules appear to establish broad limits on what teachers are permitted to wear rather than addressing a clearly defined social need. There are currently no publicly available statistics on the number of female teachers wearing hijab in Azerbaijan’s state schools. Existing legislation does not explicitly address the issue of hijab-wearing teachers and freedom of conscience, raising questions about whether teachers who wear hijab will be allowed to continue doing so following the cabinet’s decision. According to Imanov, the new rules reflect what he described as the government’s intention to place people ‘under one category’. Azerbaijani theologian detained after criticising hijab restrictions in schools Baku isn’t publicly considering banning the hijab in schools, but has made public education officially secular. OC Media Rafig Shahbazov ‘Educational institutions can require employees to follow workplace rules and standards. But I think introducing this into legislation stems from the authorities’ supposed need to send a message that even in educational institutions people must behave in a measured and prescribed way’, he said. Imanov also argued that there was no evident social necessity for introducing a specific dress code for teachers. ‘In short, the ruling ideology once again demonstrates its intolerance towards the expression of freedom not only through words and texts, but even through clothing. The main subliminal message here is precisely this’, he said. The issue comes amid growing scrutiny of restrictions on religious clothing in Azerbaijan’s schools. Shiite Muslims arrested in Azerbaijan as authorities reportedly crack down on hijabs in schools Samir Babayev, a member of the Muslim Unity Movement, told his family that he was tortured by police after being arrested on drug charges. OC Media Aytan Farhadova In September, the Cabinet of Ministers approved amendments to the descriptions of school uniforms for students at state general education institutions. The amended rules, similarly to those governing teachers, state that clothing elements that do not comply with the principle of secularism in general education are not permitted. Following that decision, reports emerged that hijab-wearing students had been prevented from attending classes at several schools in Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Education has not publicly commented on whether the clothing worn by hijab-wearing teachers in state educational institutions complies with the newly approved requirements.