The decision to ban face coverings at Vantaa comprehensive schools appears for some as a slippery slope to more bannings. Moreover, it is like a long concerted plan by anti-immigration parties like the Perussuomalaiset to chip away at cultural diversity at the cost of white nationalism.
The decision by the City of Vantaa reminded me of one in a small town in Spain that prohibited the niqab because one, yes one, woman wore the niqab.
The Finnish Muslim Community spoke out against the ban in a statement last year: “Finland must be a country where every person has the right to freedom of religion and equality, and where the symbols of minorities are not used as political weapons. We need more dialogue and understanding, not populist bans that only divide society.”
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ilkka Kalo, director of basic education in Vantaa, said the decision to ban the niqab was due to safety requirements and the practical needs of teachers.
“For safety and identification reasons we must know who is present in schools,” Kalo was quoted as saying in Helsinki TImes. “Teachers also have a duty to assess pupils, and they must be able to recognise them.”
According to Kalo, only a handful of pupils have appeared in face-covering garmets.
What makes the whole ban fishy is that it was lobbied by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party, both with strong anti-immigrant sentiment.
Tme measure, probably the first in Finland, is exaggerated,. “Young people wear balaclavas and don’t cover their faces, so it’s pretty ridiculous. Quite exaggerated. Is it a Perssuomalainen initiative?”
Vantaa has been a target of racist attacks by sports people on the PS. Skier Vilma Nissinen compared Vantaa to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. There were also many attacks in the Vantaa city council by the PS that referred to migrants as “harmful.”
Social Security Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen said in August that pupils should be prohibited from using the niqab and burka. The statement comes from a number of PS politicians like Finance Minister Riikka Purra calling for a similar ban.
The number of residents who do not speak Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue in Vantaa has grown rapidly. In 2024, there were 72,160 no native Finnish or Swedish speakers that accounted for 28.7% of the city’s poåulation.
It’s clear that matters are going to get worse for Finland’s Muslim community and there is very little that can be done with this government led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.
