Teacher who cut girl's hair defends herself

Eman Abu Bakr, the school teacher who cut the hair of two of her female students for not wearing a headscarf, has blamed the Egyptian media for “blowing the story out of proportion”. Abu Bakr made the headlines last week when she cut the hair of two girls in her class: Ola Mansour and Mona El-Rawi, after they refuse to cover their heads. Abu Bakr wears a full veil which also covers her face. The teacher was transferred to the administrative prosecution after the girls' parents filed a formal complaint against her.While the act was condemned by teachers and women groups, Abu Bakr also had supporters. The Union of Luxor's Teachers held a meeting with Abu Bakr on Tuesday night where they announced they would be supporting her through her "ordeal" which was "created by the press". Muslim preachers in the city also voiced support to the teacher. The city's teachers union said while it believes that Abu Bakr made a mistake, it should be handled through legal methods and announced its rejection of the way officials dealt with the issue, moving Abu Bakr to an administrative job and deducting one month's salary. Speaking to Arabstoday, Abu Bakr said that she may have made a mistake, but she didn't expect people to take advantage of the fact that she wears a face veil to make a point. She added that she didn't belong to any political or religious groups, "unlike what was suggested in the press". She added that she feels humiliated because of the way the media handled the incident. Explaining the issue, the teacher said that the story started as a joke when she gave all the girls a warning that if they don’t wear the veil, she would have to cut their hair. "I issued this warning after students in the class asked me how these two girls were allowed to show up without wearing the veil," she said. When they showed up the next time without the veil, a boy handed Abu Bakr a pair of scissors reminding her of the warning she had given to the two 12 year-old girls. She felt embarrassed and found herself in a position where she had to keep her promise. Abu Bakr said that she doesn’t see what the whole fuss is about, adding that all she did was cutting only two centimetres of the two girls' hair when the rest of the students insisted that she carry out her threat. Abu Bakr said she was shocked when she saw a photo of one of the two girls with her hair cut much more than what she did to her. She added that she did not know that cutting less than 2 centimetres of hair "would be considered a crime". She also denied the student’s claim that she forced her to stand up raising her hands for two hours after the incident as a punishment. The accused teacher also claimed that El-Rawi's father told her that he reprimanded his daughter for her behaviour and punished her. This is when she thought the problem ended, especially since she claims to have reconciled with the other student's parents. The science teacher added she is on friendly relations with her students. The teacher reiterated that she doesn't belong to any political or religious group, adding that she has worn the full face veil for 5 years. The teacher also refused the support offered to her by some Islamic preachers, saying that she didn’t want to turn "this small issue" into a subject of political conflict between seculars