Shafaqna English- As Austria prepares to introduce a headscarf ban for girls under the age of 14, rights groups are warning that anti-Muslim rhetoric is contributing to discrimination in classrooms.
The anti-racism monitoring group Dokustelle reports that approximately one-third of the offline incidents of Islamophobia they documented in 2024 occurred in the education sector.
These statistics indicate that children are particularly vulnerable to the high levels of Islamophobic discrimination present in Austria. In 2024, the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights found that 71% of Muslims living in Austria had experienced racism in recent months, in contrast to 47% of Muslims across the EU.
Anti-racism organizations caution that new laws, such as the upcoming legislation banning headscarves in schools for girls up to 14 years old, which is set to take effect this September, will exacerbate an already troubling situation for Muslims.