A seventh grade Azerbaijani student wearing a hijab is forbidden from entering school in the Azerbaijani-populated village of Garajala inGeorgia’s Telavi district, APA reports.

The girl’s father, Tahir Astanov, accused the school’s administration of imposing restrictions on the right to freedom of religion, calling on Georgia’s ministry of education and science to react to this issue.

Astanov has already appealed to the Telavi Resource Center over the incident.

School principal Elza Ashirova said that the ban on wearing hijabs was imposed on the basis of school rules. According to her, schoolchildren are not allowed to come to classes wearing hats and other veils.

In recent years, several problems connected with wearing hijabs arose in Georgian schools. Earlier, the Georgian ombudsman called on the country’s ministry of education and science to ensure the rights of students to express their religious affiliation.