London:

An Indian-origin faculty principal, also known as “Britain’s strictest headmistress”, on Tuesday welcomed a UK Excessive Court docket 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 enable non secular prayers in step with its ethos of selling an “inclusive setting”.

My assertion concerning 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 giant 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 numerous causes. These causes embrace {that a} prayer room would foster division amongst pupils, opposite to the College’s ethos, lack of accessible area and obtainable workers to oversee pupils and that pupils would miss necessary College actions, together with through the lunch break in the event that they had 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 ambiance was creating. Our strict disciplinary insurance policies, on which the ethos and nice success of (the) College is predicated, had been vulnerable to being undermined,” she mentioned.

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 problem 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 identified to be strict… Her proof has focussed on her preferences and what she supposes the place can be elsewhere,” it notes.

In an announcement following the ruling, Birbalsingh mentioned it was a “victory for all faculties” and of the “strong but respectful secularism” ideas on which the varsity she based in 2014 is run.

“A faculty ought to be free to do what is true for the pupils it serves. The courtroom’s resolution is, subsequently, 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 mentioned.

The headteacher obtained the backing of the UK authorities, with Schooling Secretary Gillian Keegan taking to social media to state: “I’ve at all times been clear that headteachers are finest positioned to make selections of their faculty. Michaela is an impressive faculty, and I hope this judgement offers all faculty leaders the boldness to make the correct selections for his or her pupils.”

The Excessive Court docket in London discovered that the prayer ritual ban was lawful below 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 mentioned that whereas she misplaced, she felt she did the correct factor and now needs to give attention to her research.

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