This archive report was first published on 13 September 2019.
On September 13, 2019, the High Court in Kenya made a landmark ruling in favor of a Rastafarian student who was sent home from Olympic High School in January 2019.
The court found that the school had violated the student's rights to education and freedom of religion by forcing her to cut her hair.
According to the court, the right to education and freedom of religion supersedes a school's regulations, and the school's rules were applied in a manner that denied the student her right to education and freedom of religion.
Justice Chacha Mwita noted that the rule requiring the student to cut her hair was 'intrusive to her religion and not justifiable in a democratic country.'
The court also ruled that refusing to take a child to school is a criminal offense under Kenyan law, attracting a fine of Ksh. 100,000 or a one-year jail term.
‘The fact that she keeps rastas should not have been the basis to chase her from school,’ the judge said, reiterating that school rules should not appear to be superior to the constitution.
