Infringement on personal freedom or sound educational policy? The ban on wearing the niqab, or full face-veil, in schools has stirred intense controversy and a lengthy legal battle ever since it was issued by Minister of Education Hussein Kamel Bahaaeddin in 1994. The legal wrangle came to an end this week when the upper bench of the State Council, the highest administrative court, rejected a lower tribunal’s decision to revoke the ban on the niqab.