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School uniform
Earlier this week the Court of Appeal ruled that a school discriminated unlawfully against a Muslim pupil by not allowing her to wear traditional Islamic dress.
See (http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/Homepage.asp?NodeID=89614) for more details of the case and (http://www.muhajabah.com/images/jilbab/gallery.php?directory=.¤tPic=0) for images of the jilbab.
Now, this decision by the CA strikes me as 100% right; it is and should be unlawful to require pupils (or anyone else) to wear clothing that does not allow them to meet their religious obligations. What saddens me greatly is that the Conservative party, instead of welcoming this decision as a victory for individual liberty, is choosing to see it as an attack on the authority of head teachers to decide on school uniform policy.
There's nothing in this case preventing a head teacher from setting a uniform policy, providing it permits pupils to dress in a way consistent with their religions eg. it would be perfectly appropriate to require that a jilbab and headscarf be plain black/navy/grey/green (eg. same colour as the skirts/trousers the other pupils wear), that the socks/stockings/tights worn are an appropriate colour, that she wears plain flat black/brown shoes that cover the toes (a health & safety requirement in schools), that she wears a school blazer/jumper/cardigan over the top of her jilbab if she needs something for warmth, that she has an appropriate coat etc etc.
Perspective people, perspective.
See (http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/Homepage.asp?NodeID=89614) for more details of the case and (http://www.muhajabah.com/images/jilbab/gallery.php?directory=.¤tPic=0) for images of the jilbab.
Now, this decision by the CA strikes me as 100% right; it is and should be unlawful to require pupils (or anyone else) to wear clothing that does not allow them to meet their religious obligations. What saddens me greatly is that the Conservative party, instead of welcoming this decision as a victory for individual liberty, is choosing to see it as an attack on the authority of head teachers to decide on school uniform policy.
There's nothing in this case preventing a head teacher from setting a uniform policy, providing it permits pupils to dress in a way consistent with their religions eg. it would be perfectly appropriate to require that a jilbab and headscarf be plain black/navy/grey/green (eg. same colour as the skirts/trousers the other pupils wear), that the socks/stockings/tights worn are an appropriate colour, that she wears plain flat black/brown shoes that cover the toes (a health & safety requirement in schools), that she wears a school blazer/jumper/cardigan over the top of her jilbab if she needs something for warmth, that she has an appropriate coat etc etc.
Perspective people, perspective.