One female student, who was barred from praying during her lunch break, took the school to court, drawing public attention to what she believed was a discriminatory policy targeting Muslim students. / Photo: Reuters Archive
This prompted the school's governing body to introduce the"prayer ritual policy" , which is a misnomer for a ban imposed as an “interim measure”. Ali explains the Michaela Community School is classified as a free school and it receives public funding while operating independently.
Given that state schools are inherently unable to be entirely secular due to regulatory laws, Ali said denying a group the right to practise their faith differently poses a challenge., the student and her mother argued that the school's refusal to accommodate the midday Muslim prayer violated her right to freedom of religious expression, protected under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights .
“The school was successful due to the Judge unreasonably favouring the Defendant’s evidence over the Claimant’s”.