Danish school bans students from praying at school

A Danish school in a northern Copenhagen suburb told its students they cannot pray during school hours as "religion and education do not belong together," the Independent has reported.

A student at SOPU Hillerod, the school for health care and education, posted a picture of her friend on Facebook with a sign that read: "New from the director. May one pray at SOPU Hillerød? The answer is NO!" the Local reported. The post quickly spread on social media and received hundreds of likes.

The Independent cited Danish newspaper BT as reporting that Inger Margrethe Jensen, the schools director, confirmed the decision. "We have reminded our students about it and reprinted our code of conduct because we have had some incidents that required we brush up on things," she said.

She also added that Muslims prayers had become far more "visible" and "religion and education do not belong together."

Mia Victoria Lunderød Hansen, the student who posted the picture of her friend, wrote in a public post that her friend got a letter from the school management that stated she can no longer pray during school hours. "We students do not think this is right and therefore we've gone around the school collecting signatures," the Local reported her as saying. She also wrote that they believe everyone should be treated equally.

Although the woman in the photo has declined to speak publicly, her sister-in-law, Maria Fischer Walldorf, who is also a Muslim, talked to Radio24syv and condemned the prayer ban.