Azerbaijan tightens school dress rules as families report girls refused entry

Neither the September school-uniform amendment nor the October dress code for teachers names the hijab. Both require clothing to comply with the principle of secularism, and parents and activists report that girls in headscarves are being refused entry to class.

What was decided

July 2026. The president signed an amendment to the Law on General Education adding national character and secularism to the principles of the general education system, and requiring pupils and teachers in state schools to comply with clothing requirements. A presidential decree on 22 July told the Cabinet of Ministers to update the dress rules.

21 September 2026. The Cabinet, under Prime Minister Ali Asadov, amended the school uniform rules (reported as Decision No. 309, amending Decision No. 96 of 2022). As published by the news agency APA, it bars pupils from wearing clothing elements that break the uniformity of the prescribed uniform, or other elements that do not comply with the secular principle of general education. Parents or guardians must ensure compliance, and each school's pedagogical council handles compliance questions. National dress is allowed at events on history, culture and national values, with the council's approval.

6 October 2026. A separate Cabinet resolution (No. 325) approved a dress code for educators in state schools: neat, simple, business-style clothing, with school administrations responsible for compliance. It also requires teachers' clothing to comply with the principle of secularism. The resolution sets no new clothing specifications for pupils.

What the text does not say

The wording published for the September decision does not contain the word "hijab" or "headscarf", and it does not define which items conflict with the secular principle. Reports on the decision say it contains no provision excluding a pupil from lessons. Some outlets and critics read it as a headscarf rule because a religious head covering is not part of the uniform it prescribes, and because of how schools have applied it.

What happened in schools

This did not start in September. From late February 2026, parents and activists reported that girls in headscarves were being refused entry. In early March, a director in Gizilaghaj reportedly barred three pupils, and on 10 March the director of School No. 3 in Mehdiabad reportedly barred 23. These are figures from single reported incidents, not national statistics. Reports named schools in Khatai, Sumgait and Imishli, and two teachers in Sumgait were reportedly removed on 15 March. On 31 March the restriction was reportedly lifted, without any official announcement, though at least one Sumgait school was said to be still applying it in April.

After the September decision, parents again described girls being turned away. A Sumgait parent told Radio Azadliq: "Our children are not being allowed into school because of our religious beliefs." Baku's education department said the aim was a "disciplined, orderly and equal educational environment." No official figure for the number of girls affected has been published.

Pupils protest in October

On 9 and 10 October, news outlets reported protests by pupils themselves. According to reports cited by OC Media and Caucasian Knot, pupils at School No. 69 in Balakhany, in Baku, reportedly refused to attend classes after classmates in headscarves were turned away; a poster displayed there, according to JAMnews, read "Hijab is not an obstacle to education!" OC Media also reported a similar protest at B. Shiriyev Secondary School in the village of Mollaoba, Masally district. The pupils were said to be demanding that their classmates be allowed to return to class. On 10 October, Al Jazeera described videos of schoolchildren protesting outside schools and boycotting classes. The reports give no participant numbers, and some coverage draws on social media footage that the reporting does not show to have been independently verified.

Meydan TV also reported that a headscarf-wearing teacher at School No. 90 in Baku had been dismissed, without saying when. OC Media said the Education Ministry had not responded to its inquiries about the reported restrictions. On 9 October the Baku City Education Department announced compliance checks, saying school administrations were responsible for overseeing implementation and that dress-code questions would go to pedagogical councils; it did not directly address the complaints about headscarves. According to his wife, the jailed journalist Polad Aslanov began a hunger strike on 8 October in protest against the restrictions, and he was reported to have argued that they violate Article 48 of the Constitution, which protects freedom of conscience.

Separately, the lawmaker Jeyhun Mamedov said the changes were intended to eliminate religious, ethnic and socio-economic distinctions in schools. The rights defender Arzu Abdulla said the text does not expressly mention the hijab, but argued that the restriction was implicitly directed at headscarves.

The reaction

Legal commentators have questioned whether excluding pupils over headscarves is compatible with the constitutional right to education (Article 42) and freedom of conscience (Article 48), noting that the September decision does not expressly authorise exclusion from class. The lawyer Yalchin Imanov said that Azerbaijani legislation "does not specifically prohibit wearing a headscarf or religious attire to school."

On 22 September the theologian Abgül Suleymanov was detained. On 24 September a court ordered 30 days of administrative detention, on a reported charge of disobeying a police officer. His family links the detention to his Facebook posts criticising the restrictions, in which, according to OC Media, he wrote that he would choose prison over a ban. That link has not been independently established, and there has been no official statement explaining the detention.

Also on 22 September, Turkish President Erdoğan told the UN General Assembly that school headscarf bans are "an attack on women's most basic rights," without naming Azerbaijan. The Turkish lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroğlu and the group Özgür-Der, which protested at the Azerbaijani consulate in Istanbul, have since urged Ankara to press Baku; Turkey's government had not publicly addressed the Azerbaijani rules as of 3 October.

Not the first time

In late 2010 the Education Ministry told schools to bar hijab-wearing girls, citing uniform rules and secularism; a US State Department report describes it as a verbal directive of 9 December. Hundreds protested outside the ministry on 10 December 2010 and police detained about 16 people. Later protests, in 2011 and in October 2012, led to dozens more detentions and prison terms for some participants. The 2010 measure was subsequently reported as withdrawn, but reporting from 2011 says headscarves were still not admitted in practice, and its precise administrative status remains unclear.

The wider picture

Azerbaijan is not unusual in the region. Kazakhstan has barred uniform elements showing "religious affiliation" since 2016, and Uzbekistan's rules name the hijab and kippah explicitly. Tajikistan restricts such dress well beyond schools. What distinguishes the Azerbaijani case, on the reporting so far, is that the rule is written in general terms, left to each school to interpret, and applied unevenly.

What is not established

• How many girls have been refused entry, and whether any have lost access to schooling altogether.
• Whether the authorities will clarify that a headscarf is covered, or issue guidance to schools.
• Whether the orders reported in March came from the education authorities, as some school directors told parents.
• How many pupils took part in the reported protests, and whether any faced disciplinary action.

Sources. OC Media, "Is Azerbaijan banning the hijab in public schools?" · JAMnews, 13 April 2026 · JAMnews, 25 September 2026 · OC Media on the Suleymanov detention · OC Media on the teachers' dress code · APA, 21 September 2026 (Azerbaijani) · Turkish Minute, 3 October 2026 · Turan, 10 October 2026 · Caspian Post, regional comparison · U.S. State Department, International Religious Freedom Report 2010 · OC Media, school strike · Caucasian Knot, 10 October 2026 · Al Jazeera, 10 October 2026

As of 11 October 2026. Reporting is moving quickly. The September decision is described here from the wording published by news agencies, not from the Cabinet's own gazette text.