By SAL AHMED
Rights groups and legal experts fear that a recent European court ruling on wearing hijab in the workplace can be a precursor to a full hijab ban in some European countries.
(TRT WORLD) Mariam* was a teacher at a preschool in the German city of Hamburg until the day she chose to wear the hijab.
Born to a working-class family in a troubled neighbourhood of the city, Mariam, who is now 32-years-old, socialised with immigrant children from all over the world. It was no surprise for her parents when she converted to Islam at the age of 22.
In 2014, after completing her training course in teaching, Mariam started her dream job at a kindergarten, also known as Kita in Germany.
“I had specialist training in teaching children with learning disabilities and using my certification the Kita started a new specialised program for disabled children,” says Mariam.
“It was a very satisfying job, all was well, everybody was happy, my best friend worked there, all my colleagues were happy, the parents of all the children I taught were also happy with my performance,” she says.
A couple of years after that, wedding bells rang and Mariam married a man from Lebanon.
But in 2017, “while I was on parental leave, I decided to start wearing the hijab. I wanted to start a new chapter in my life”, she says.
But her lifestyle decision did not fare well with her employers.
