Muslims in EuropeMuslim students in Switzerland must shake female teachers’ hands

Published 26 May 2016

Muslim students in Switzerland’s Basel Country can no longer refuse to shake a female teacher’s hand on religious grounds, according to the canton’s office of education, culture, and sport. If they refuse, they would face a fine of up to $5,000. The canton’s authority added that the public interest outweighed “considerably” the private interests of the pupils. This public interest included equal treatment of men and women, the integration of foreigners into Swiss society, and a well-organized school system. In addition, shaking hands was an important social gesture for one’s future career, the educational authority said in its statement.

Muslim students in Switzerland’s Basel Country can no longer refuse to shake a female teacher’s hand on religious grounds, according to the canton’s office of education, culture, and sport. If they refuse, they would face a fine of up to $5,000. 

The educational authorities made the ruling after two teenage Muslim brothers at a school in the small town of Therwil refused, in early April, to follow the Swiss school customs of shaking the hand of their teacher before and after class. 

USA Today reports that the canton’s education authority said on Wednesday that a an enquiry by the authority legal counsel has confirmed that schools in Basel could make pupils shake teachers’ hands, and that this practice does not violate Switzerland’s freedom of religion laws.

The Therwil school board initially exempted the two Muslim brothers from shaking hands with female teachers, but this exemption would now would be lifted. 

The cantonal educational body said students who continue to refuse to shake hands with female teachers would be first warned and then fined, in addition to facing “appropriate” disciplinary measures. 

The canton’s legal counsel acknowledged in his report that requiring students to shake hands with their teachers may be construed as an intrusion into religious freedom, but since the shaking of hands did not involve the central tenets of Islam, this intrusion was proportionate. 

The canton’s authority added that the public interest outweighed “considerably” the private interests of the pupils. 

This public interest included equal treatment of men and women, the integration of foreigners into Swiss society, and a well-organized school system. In addition, shaking hands was an important social gesture for one’s future career, the educational authority said in its statement. 

Switzerland has two leading Islamic organization, and the more moderate of them, the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland (IOS), said in April that a handshake between a man and woman was “permissible theologically.” The organization added that politeness is important in Islamic tradition and that a handshake between teachers and students is “not problematic.” 

The IOS said, though, that it regretted that authorities had sought a legal ruling to settle the issue.

“It could have been resolved more gently by involving the Federation of Muslims in Basel, which could have acted as a mediator,” a spokesman, Pascal Gemperli, said.

He said the prospect of a 5,000-Swiss-franc fine was harsh and warned that it could further polarize the debate.

The other Swiss Islamic body, the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS), which often takes more fundamentalist positions, accused Basel canton’s educational agency of “grossly overstepping their competency,” saying such measures would not help integration but rather contribute to a feeling of alienation among Muslims. The ICCS said in a statement that mandating physical contact between individuals amounted to “totalitarianism.”

The council said it would take legal action against any effort to apply the sanctions, and ignore any fines.

USA Todaynotes that the initial decision of the school board, to exempt the 14- and 16-year-old Muslim brothers from the requirement to shake the hands of female teachers, led to a public outcry, and Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga publicly criticized the decision, arguing that the handshakes are part of Swiss culture. 

The younger of the two told a newspaper interviewer that he had discovered the rule in an Internet sermon. 

The school district’s April decision, in an effort not to violate Switzerland’s strict sex discrimination laws, initially granted the two brothers an exemption from shaking the hands of both female and male teachers.

In response to the public interest in the story, the Swiss immigration authorities had suspended the application for Swiss citizenship of the family of the two teenagers. A spokesperson for the local security authorities said that the office for migration in canton Basel Country noted that it was not unusual for an application to be suspended while additional information was gathered.

On Wednesday, authorities said one member of the family, whose identity was not revealed, had received a warning over “incitement to violence,” which could lead to a denial of naturalization.

There are about 350,000 Muslims Switzerland, a country of eight million people.

This is not the first time Muslim families clash with school authorities. Last year, several Muslim parents in different schools demanded that their daughters be exempt from swimming lessons, but the educational bodies rejected their request, and some families were fined when they kept their daughters away from swimming classes.

Muslim families, however, have won court fights against schools that sought to ban the full-face veil.