Sir – The move by Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw and Prime Minister David Cameron to support schools who ban the wearing of the full face veil (niqab) by Muslim women, shows a cultural illiteracy and imbecility which has become standard these days, and I was delighted to read that the headteacher of Oxford Spires Sue Croft is resisting such nonsense (Report, February 4).

While it is true that the niqab changes communication, I challenge the notion that it disables it.

The niqab is made of very thin material, and I personally have never had any trouble communicating with women wearing it.

Indeed, such women frequently impress me with their assertiveness and clarity of speech, perhaps because it takes such moral fibre to wear it in these times. The other stuck record I grow tired of hearing is ‘the niqab oppresses women’.

While the niqab may originally have been to shield women from the smouldering lusts of men, symbols change their meaning over time. Is every bride who wears white boasting of their spotless virginity to the world? I think not.

The best way to learn about the niqab, and what it means, is to talk to women wearing it. Have Sir Michael Wilshaw or David Cameron done so? I seriously doubt it.

Daniel Emlyn-Jones
Oxford