Al-Taqwa, an Islamic college in Australia is under investigation after its principal has banned female students from taking part from cross-country running competitions because he believed it may cause them to “lose their virginity”.
James Merlino, Victoria State Education Minister on Thursday confirmed the investigation and said that if true, the claims made by a former teacher at Melbourne’s Al-Taqwa College “would be very concerning”.
“I have asked the schools regulator, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, to investigate,” he said in a statement.
The former teacher alleges “the principal (Omar Hallak) holds beliefs that if females run excessively, they may ‘lose their virginity'”, The Age newspaper said.
“The principal believes that there is scientific evidence to indicate that if girls injure themselves, such as break their leg while playing soccer, it could render them infertile.”
Following the ban, female students at the school also wrote a letter to Hallak.
“Just because we are girls doesn’t mean we can’t participate in running events,” the letter said, adding that the decision was “really offensive to all the girls that were going to participate”.
“As long as we girls are wearing appropriate clothes we can run. As a principal you should treat all subjects equally. ”
Al-Taqwa College is said to be Victoria State’s largest Islamic school and had 1,701 students enrolled last year, as per government data.