A SCHOOLGIRL who was suspended for refusing to take off her hijab has said she will continue to wear it 'whatever happens'.

Najwa, 16, from Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) was banned from going to school for three weeks after teachers ordered her to remove her scarf and she declined to do so.

The Morocco-born teen, who has Spanish nationality, says wearing her hijab is 'an act of submission before God', and also says that she wears it because she feels good in it.

Her dad, Mohammed Malha, slammed education authorities for their 'discrimination', comparing his daughter's headscarf with other girls' hairstyles.

He said the hijab was no different to his daughter choosing to dye her hair a different colour, like her classmates.

Najwa says she was very worried at the amount of time she was missing at school, fearing it would affect her studies.

She said she felt 'singled out' and 'alone', but after returning to school for the first time yesterday revealed that her friends and some of the teachers gave her such a warm welcome that she was 'really happy to be back'.

But the teenager says she felt 'disorientated' in class, since her prolonged absence means she has fallen behind with her studies.

Her father has called for the regional education minister, Lucía Figar, to 'restore Najwa's fundamental right' to an education and allow her to return to school under normal circumstances.

At present, she is studying alone in the visitors' room.