What is the ruling on a teacher who works in co-educational schools?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah reward you: What is the ruling on working as a teacher in co-educational schools, meaning the mixing of male and female students, and the mixing of male and female teachers, because many of our brothers do not want to teach in these schools?
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that mixing boys and girls in schools is an abomination and is not permissible. However, this is not for the people to address; it is for the governments. The primary person responsible in every country is the head of state, and he is the one whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will hold accountable on the Day of Resurrection. If there is no way to convey knowledge to the people except through this path, then let him teach there and lower his gaze as much as he can regarding looking at the women. Let him himself strive to separate them, because the university teacher is exactly like the principal; that is, in his classroom he does what he wishes. He can, when he enters, mitigate the issue of this mixing and tell the women: "Be all in the back, and the men all in the front." Let him be firm in this, and there is no doubt that this mitigates the evil and the trial.
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that mixing boys and girls in schools is an abomination and is not permissible. However, this is not for the people to address; it is for the governments. The primary person responsible in every country is the head of state, and he is the one whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will hold accountable on the Day of Resurrection. If there is no way to convey knowledge to the people except through this path, then let him teach there and lower his gaze as much as he can regarding looking at the women. Let him himself strive to separate them, because the university teacher is exactly like the principal; that is, in his classroom he does what he wishes. He can, when he enters, mitigate the issue of this mixing and tell the women: "Be all in the back, and the men all in the front." Let him be firm in this, and there is no doubt that this mitigates the evil and the trial.