I've been following this debate quite closely and I agree with Torog 100%.

With regard to her position as a teaching assistant it is imperative that she remove that veil during classes, and anywhere that children will see her. The sight of a woman in a burkha and a veil which coveres the full face is frightening for a small child. When my daughter was a little younger than she is now she found the sight of these women in full veil and burkha to be quite terrifying. Whenever we passed them in the street she would instinctively cling to me in fear. Now, I don't think my little girl is a racist. She has a lot of friends of all clours in her class and she plays with them all. It's not an issue within the home either as she sees my friends of all races coming to visit and stuff. There's just something terrifying about someone wearing a mask when you are a small child. No amount of cultural readjustment or any other such nonsense is going to change that. The woman can either take off that veil or lose her job. No two ways about it. Would they let me go into a school dressed up as Darth Vader? Of course not, so let's have a bit of common sense here. England is a secular country and religion is a private issue. It ought to be kept that way.

Incidentally, I heard the woman in question being interviewed on the radio the other day and she sounded like a complete cretin. As well as having nothing to say of any note, and being unable to string a sentence together without using the word "ermmmmm" she was possessed of a quite obvious speech impediment. Coupled with a very strong "asian" accent it was practically impossible to understand a word she was saying.
Ignatius Reviewed by Ignatius on . The muslim teaching assistant in the UK - shocking poll results! For those who arent in the know, heres the story - A Muslim teaching assistant's refusal to remove her veil was threatening to spark a full-blown row over religious relations as exchanges became increasingly bitter. A series of controversial interventions from politicians in both main parties drew angry responses from Muslim community leaders, with neither side prepared to back down. The Government's race minister demanded 24-year-old Aishah Azmi be sacked, accusing her of "denying the Rating: 5