TEHRAN, Aug 1: Schoolgirls and teachers in Iran’s cosmopolitan capital have been allowed to lift their veils for the first time since the 1979 revolution and despite criticism from hardliners, who oppose anything deemed Western.

The education ministry has issued a directive to schools in Tehran, asking them not to force the country’s strict Islamic dress code on students and teachers in girls’ schools, which are staffed by women.

For now, this applies only to schools in the capital Tehran, which is more liberal than the deeply religious and conservative provincial towns.

“All schoolgirls and female staff can take off their robes and hoods in school dressing rooms before attending classes,” the directive, published in newspapers on Thursday, said.

Until the directive, girls had to wear a hood and robe, and those from more religious families wore a black chador on top of them. The robes cover the body from the shoulder to the ankles, and the hoods cover the hair, neck, ears.

After the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government ordered schools to be segregated by sex and removed men from girls’ institutions. Only some university classes remained coed.

But with President Mohammad Khatami’s policies of cultural openness gradually taking hold, and the public more willing to speak out, Iran is rethinking some policies and is easing some restrictions.

The new measure has already sparked criticism from religious hardliners, who fiercely resist any move they see as an attempt at Westernisation.

“The aim of this plan is to encourage nudity and weaken our religious values at schools,” said Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper.

Hassan Emadi, a rug merchant in Tehran’s bazaar, said:

“I was hoping that my daughters were growing up in a moral atmosphere.

“Now they will only think about their appearance and how best to look like this or that rock or movie star.”

To appease the hardliners, school authorities have promised to use one-way tinted glass in school windows and to keep male visitors in distant, separate rooms.—Reuters