London:

An Indian-origin faculty principal, sometimes called “Britain’s strictest headmistress”, on Tuesday welcomed a UK Excessive Courtroom ruling that upheld her ban on prayer rituals after a Muslim pupil sought to legally problem it as discriminatory.

Katherine Birbalsingh, of Indo-Guyanese heritage, had advised the courtroom that Michaela College – a “secular” secondary faculty for girls and boys in Wembley, north London – didn’t permit spiritual prayers consistent with its ethos of selling an “inclusive setting”.

My assertion relating to the decision on our ban of prayer rituals at Michaela. pic.twitter.com/88UMC5UYXq

— Katharine Birbalsingh (@Miss_Snuffy) April 16, 2024

Whereas half of the pupils on the faculty are Muslims, it additionally has massive numbers of Sikh, Hindu and Christian pupils.

“Because the Governing Physique is conscious, the College doesn’t present a prayer room to be used by pupils, for varied causes. These causes embrace {that a} prayer room would foster division amongst pupils, opposite to the College’s ethos, lack of accessible house and out there employees to oversee pupils and that pupils would miss essential College actions, together with through the lunch break in the event that they have been to spend time in a prayer room,” Ms Birbalsingh advised the courtroom.

“Unacceptable segregation or division, opposite to the entire ethos of the varsity, was going down on account of allowing prayer. An intimidatory environment was creating. Our strict disciplinary insurance policies, on which the ethos and nice success of (the) College is predicated, have been vulnerable to being undermined,” she stated.

Justice Thomas Linden, in an 80-page judgment following a listening to in January, dominated within the faculty’s favour.

“In my judgment, the place to begin is that the College was proper to take the view that the difficulty was whether or not to allow and facilitate ritual prayer indoors: in impact, to reverse its longstanding coverage of not offering a prayer room,” it reads.

“She (the unnamed pupil) knew that the College is secular, and her personal proof is that her mom wished her to go there as a result of it was recognized to be strict… Her proof has focussed on her preferences and what she supposes the place can be elsewhere,” it notes.

In a press release following the ruling, Birbalsingh stated it was a “victory for all faculties” and of the “sturdy but respectful secularism” ideas on which the varsity she based in 2014 is run.

“A college ought to be free to do what is true for the pupils it serves. The courtroom’s choice is, due to this fact, a victory for all faculties. Faculties shouldn’t be pressured by one baby and her mom to alter its strategy just because they’ve determined they do not like one thing on the faculty,” she stated.

The headteacher obtained the backing of the UK authorities, with Training Secretary Gillian Keegan taking to social media to state: “I’ve all the time been clear that headteachers are finest positioned to make choices of their faculty. Michaela is an excellent faculty, and I hope this judgement provides all faculty leaders the arrogance to make the appropriate choices for his or her pupils.”

The Excessive Courtroom in London discovered that the prayer ritual ban was lawful underneath Article 9 of the European Conference on Human Rights (ECHR) and Part 19 of the Equality Act 2010. The Muslim pupil, who can’t be named for authorized causes, had argued that the varsity’s ban “uniquely” affected her religion as a result of its ritualised nature. She has since stated that whereas she misplaced, she felt she did the appropriate factor and now needs to deal with her research.

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