"Krone" on the scene

Here’s How the First Day of the Headscarf Ban Went in Upper Austria

For the symbolic photo, two girls posed in front of the MS 17 in Linz.(Bild: FOTOKERSCHI / MARKUS HAUSER)

There are 9,109 female students of the Islamic faith in Upper Austria. This year, for the first time, they must attend classes with their heads uncovered until their 14th birthday. We asked whether there was any resistance to the new regulation on the first day of school. 

“The headscarf ban isn’t a big issue here. But we didn’t expect anything different.” Despite the stressful start to the school year, Michael Haas, principal of Middle School 11 in Linz—the well-known Diesterweg School at Südbahnhofmarkt—remained quite relaxed. The reason became clear in an interview with the “Krone”: The “Diesterweg” has 280 students and 45 teachers.