Courts back school ban on full-length jilbab

THE Law Lords in Britain yesterday backed a school which banned a Muslim girl from wearing full-length Islamic dress.

Teenager Shabina Begum had won a ruling at the Court of Appeal that her human rights had been violated when she was told by a teacher to go home and change into a uniform approved by the school.

But in a ruling which many teachers will see as reaffirming the authority of schools, the House of Lords allowed an appeal by Denbigh High School in Luton, Bedfordshire.

Shabina, now 17, took the school’s headteacher and governors to court for denying her the “right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs”.

She had worn the shalwar kameez (trousers and tunic) and headscarf from the time she started at the school at the age of 12 until September 2002, when she and her brother, Shuweb Rahman, announced that the rules of her religion required her to wear the head-to-toe jilbab.

Shabina said: “Obviously I am saddened and disappointed about this, but I am quite glad it is all over and I can move on now.”

The Law Lords heard that 75% of pupils at Denbigh High were Muslim.

To try to accommodate the different faiths, the school adopted the shalwar kameez, a garment worn by many faiths on the Indian sub-continent.

According to the school’s lawyers, among Shabina’s objections was that the kameez was worn by “disbelieving women”.

But Ms Shabina’s counsel, Cherie Booth QC, said her objection was that the kameez did not sufficiently protect her modesty.