A media report caused a stir on Saturday. Teachers in a Viennese kindergarten were apparently required to wear traditional clothing because the kindergarten children’s fathers were Muslim. The case is now being investigated by the authorities.
VIENNA/PENZING. A report in the “Kronen Zeitung” caused a stir on Saturday, September 21. According to the report, a kindergarten director in the 14th district ordered employees to wear closed and non-provocative clothing. The rumored reason: Muslim fathers who pick up their children should not be annoyed.
The following message reached the Krone editorial team: “There is a facility where the manager actually demands that her employees wear closed clothing because Muslim men come to pick up their children.” The fathers of children raised in an Islamic manner should therefore not feel bothered by the sight of the teachers.
The matter is being investigated
However, according to MA 10 – Kindergartens, the City of Vienna has no requirements regarding high-necked clothing. “Our employees decide for themselves which clothing is appropriate for their everyday work. However, we expect our employees to look clean and well-groomed, and that their clothing is appropriate for everyday educational work in the kindergarten,” the authority is quoted as saying in the report.
MA 10 also stated: “Regarding the location mentioned, we thank you for the information and will investigate the matter internally.” If it should be necessary, “further steps will be taken in this case. The approach you have described does not correspond to our position.”
Return: Commandments “unacceptable”
City Councillor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) also stressed to the Krone: “The teachers in Vienna’s kindergartens wear clothing that is practical and appropriate for their job. The individual locations cannot impose any additional clothing regulations.” Religious clothing requirements in Vienna’s public institutions are “unacceptable because they are incompatible with the values of a liberal democracy.”
The reaction of the FPÖ Vienna was sharp. According to regional party chairman Dominik Nepp, these events “must be clearly stopped. Such Islamist parents have no place in this city and should return to their Islamic homeland.”
FPÖ demands consequences for parents
According to Nepp, Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) and Wiederkehr should instruct kindergartens to report such regulations and to impose consequences for those parents who have been ordered to wear the dress code. Nepp also spoke of “radical Islamic social migrants who, together with their families, should leave our country sooner rather than later.”
ÖVP regional party chairman Karl Mahrer and the integration spokesperson of the Vienna ÖVP, Caroline Hungerländer, also spoke out. Urgent action should be taken and affected teachers should be protected from “medieval regulations”. “Such conditions have no place in our city. We call on City Councillor Wiederkehr to immediately support the teachers.”
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