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Amsterdam (dpa) - A school in the Dutch city of Utrecht Tuesday fired a Muslim woman teacher who refuses on religious grounds to shake her male colleagues' hands.
Bart Engbers, head of the Vader Rijn College, said the school had "a function in providing an example with a view to wider society and the labour market."
The unnamed teacher was suspended following the summer holidays after she returned to the school and made clear she would not shake hands with male colleagues. She had previously had no apparent difficulty in this regard.
Engbers said at the time that teachers should not promote particular political or religious views, noting that the college was a state-funded public school.
The Dutch Equal Treatment Commission, a statutory body whose findings are not legally binding, ruled in November that the school could not demand that the teacher shake hands.
Outgoing Education Minister Maria van der Hoeven declined to comment, saying the dismissal was a matter between the teacher and the school.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
