A High Court Judge has ruled against a Muslim Student challenge that Michaela Community free school should allow prayer rituals for students.
Michaela School is a secular school in Wembley, London. Michaela school has one of the best GCSE and A-Level results in the country with a third of pupils receiving Grade 9 (A*).
Furthermore, the school is rated as “Outstanding” by Ofsted which is difficult and rare for an inner-city school to acquire.
Half of Michaela School’s student population is Muslim. Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has strict rules in place in her school and adheres to a policy of secularism within the school.
All food is served vegetarian to not discriminate against pupils who have religious dietary requirements. For example, Muslim students could not eat pork and Hindu students could not eat eggs. As a result, to keep things equal between students, only vegetarian food is served.
The High Court ruling ensures equality between all students and that students are not treated differently due to their faith.
Additionally, the High Court Judge Mr Justice Linden said:.“The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.”
The pupil still has the freedom to leave the school and attend a religious school. The pupil’s ability to leave undermines her argument of discrimination within the school. Due to the strict equality within the school, all pupils have the same access to services, education, and opportunity.
The Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said. “I have always been clear that head teachers are best placed to make decisions in their school.”
Because of the ruling, schools have the legal right to choose not to have prayer time for students. This will benefit schools attempting to instill traditional British values in their students.
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