This archive report was first published on 13 September 2019.
On January 1, 2019, the High Court in Kenya ordered Olympic High School in Nairobi to admit a student with dreadlocks, pending a verdict in her case.
The court ruled that the school had broken the law by asking the minor to shave her dreadlocks, citing the student's Rastafarian faith as a protected religion.
According to the student's father, she was told to cut her hair and remove her turban by a teacher at the school in Kibera, Nairobi County.
However, the school's principal, Michael Kahare, claimed that the student had told her deputy that she was a Muslim, and that the school had allowed her to attend classes pending compliance with school rules.
But a school form filled out by the student indicated that she was a Rastafarian, and a certificate from the Rastafarian society did not show whether children were part of the religion.
