Russian officials don't see any reasons for changing the existing rules of secular education and permitting Muslim headscarves at schools, Russian Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov told the press on Wednesday.

      “There are general requirements for clothes that children wear in schools, and one of them is that the clothes should be secular,” the minister said in answer to a question about the possibility of letting students wear hijabs in Russian schools. According to Livanov, the Ministry of Education currently sees no reasons for revising these norms.

      Livanov's remarks followed recent reports that Chairman of the Russian Muftis Council, Ravil Gaynutdin sent a letter to the Russian President with a request to protect Muslim schoolgirls in their decision to wear hijabs at schools.

      Gaynutdin's request came in the wake of a complaint scheduled for court review on February 11 in the Republic of Mordovia. In October 2014, the republic's supreme court banned the hijab at local schools after one of the schoolgirls swallowed a pin used to fasten the Muslim headwear.

      Islam is the second religion by number of believers after Orthodox Christianity in Russia, and one of three official traditional religions in the country. About 10 million Russian citizens call themselves Muslims.