School students must shake their teachers’ hands or their parents will be liable to pay a fine of up to 5,000 francs, authorities in the canton of Basel-Country have ruled. The decision, announced on Wednesday, comes nearly two months after two Muslim schoolboys refused to shake their female teacher’s hand at a school in Therwil, near Basel, because they said physical contact with a woman who wasn’t a family member went against their religion. The incident caused outrage across Switzerland, not only because it was seen as sex discrimination but because their refusal was considered an affront to an intrinsic...
