Schoolgirl wins right to wear Muslim gown

[Batgirl]

A schoolgirl who was refused permission to wear an Islamic gown in class claimed a "victory for all Muslims" yesterday after the Court of Appeal ruled that she had been denied the right to manifest her religion.

Shabina Begum, 16, decided when she turned 14 to wear a jilbab, a full-length dress that conceals the shape of a woman's arms and legs. She said the decision of Denbigh High School, in Luton, to insist that she wore uniform was the consequence of an atmosphere in which Islam had been made "a target for vilification in the name of the war on terror".


Shabina Begum outside the Court of Appeal yesterday

Almost 80 per cent of the 1,000 pupils at the over-subscribed comprehensive are Muslim and the head teacher was born into a Bengali Muslim family. Girls are permitted to wear the shalwar kameez, a sleeveless, smock-like dress worn over tapered trousers, and an approved headscarf.

Although that was seen by the school as satisfying the religious obligation that Muslim girls should wear modest clothing, Miss Begum believed that Islamic law required women over the age of 13 to cover their bodies completely, apart from the face and hands. The school refused to allow the jilbab in September 2002 and she lost almost two years' education.

Last September she was accepted by another local school that allows her to wear the jilbab and she is now studying for her GCSEs.

Lords Justices Brooke, Mummery and Scott Baker ruled that Denbigh High had unlawfully excluded Miss Begum. It had also denied her the right to manifest her religion and access to suitable and appropriate education.

It was ordered to pay the legal costs of the Children's Legal Centre at Essex University, which briefed Cherie Booth, QC, and two junior counsel to represent Miss Begum at the appeal hearing in December.

The Muslim Council of Britain welcomed the ruling. Iqbal Sacranie, its secretary general, said: "Those who choose to wear the jilbab and consider it to be part of the faith requirement for modest attire should be respected."

But Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, said: "This may be a victory for human rights but it is also a victory for fundamentalism."

Lord Justice Brooke said the school should have recognised that Miss Begum had the right to manifest her religion in public under the European human rights convention. All three judges stressed that it might still be possible for the school to justify its uniform policy if it reconsidered its stance in the light of their ruling. The judges also expressed sympathy for the school, which had had to cope with complex human rights considerations in the absence of guidance from the Department for Education and Skills.

Miss Begum, whose parents are dead, said: "It is amazing that in the so-called free world I have to fight to wear this attire."

Denbigh High said the case had been lost on a technicality and that it was proud of its multi-racial policy.

Telegraph

[USMCRET6391]

Sounds like a correct ruling to me, unless there are other factors involved not mentioned in the article

[Field_Sailor]

I think if she was supposed to wear a uniform, then she should have to wear a uniform. She shouldn't be discriminated against because she's a Muslim, but she shouldn't be able to abide by different rules either. They even gave her an alternative. If you don't like it change schools.

[Batgirl]

^ FS you hit it right on the head!

Leaving aside the Muslim issue for a minute, the real damage to come out of this ruling is that the Appeal court has effectively ended the current right of each school to determine its own policy on school uniforms. There is a real concern that as a result of this ruling we are now going to experience a flood of similar cases launched by other ethnic groups against school authorities up and down this country.

Regarding this case specifically, the girl was not discriminated against as the school in question, which is one of the most multicultural in the UK (there are 43 languages spoken there) and whose headmistress is a Muslim woman, offered students an alternative option to the standard British uniform which was also approved by the Muslim Council of Britain. The girl chose to attend this specific school, well aware of what the uniform policy was and when given the option of a Muslim-approved dress alternative, she chose not to wear it. I suspect there is a more devious political agenda behind this and the girl has just been used as a pawn by the fundamentalist Muslim groups. The decision has divided the Muslim community over here, many of whom say the Court has played right into the hands of the fundamentalists as the jilbab is only worn by the strictest Muslims and they fear it will lead to more pressure on all British Muslim women to adopt this strict dress or be branded as 'lesser women' in the eyes of Islam.

What's also frustrating about this case is this student is now attending another school with no plans to return to the one she launched this suit against AND her legal aid bill is being picked up by us taxpayers.