A Muslim student who took legal action against her London school over its ban on “prayer rituals” has lost a High Court challenge.
The pupil at Michaela Community School claimed the school’s policy on prayer was discriminatory and “uniquely” affects her faith due to its ritualised nature.
According to the school, the rule was first introduced in March last year by its founder and headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh – a former Government social mobility tsar.
Birbalsingh, who has been dubbed Britain’s strictest, hit back at the claims saying her school would “never separate children according to race and religion”.
The student alleged that the school’s stance on prayer – one of the five pillars of Islam – was “the kind of discrimination which makes religious minorities feel alienated from society”.
But in a written ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Linden dismissed the pupil’s arguments against the prayer rituals ban.
Justice Linden said: “It seems to me that this is a case … where 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.
“She knew that the school is secular and her own evidence is that her mother wished her to go there because it was known to be strict.
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“She herself says that, long before the prayer ritual policy was introduced, she and her friends believed that prayer was not permitted at school and she therefore made up for missed prayers when she got home.”
The head of the North West London school previously opened up on the horrific abuse her staff have received since a prayer ban was introduced at the school, telling GB News: “They’re coming to me very frightened.”
The school has been subjected to repeated threats since the action was taken, and even received a “bomb hoax” in December.
The institution in Wembley has previously said allowing prayers risks “undermining inclusion and social cohesion between pupils.”
In legal papers, it claimed that students seeking to carry out prayer rituals in the playground had challenged the school’s “unique ethos, practices and policies.”
Michaela Community School in Wembley was sued by a Muslim student
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Lawyers for the pupil argued that she was making a “modest” request to be allowed to pray for around five minutes at lunch time, on dates when faith rules required it, but not during lessons.
Justice Linden continued in his ruling: “The essential nature of the school regime is one which the claimant and her fellow pupils, or at least their parents, have chosen and, indeed, that they have chosen to remain at the school notwithstanding the prayer ritual policy (PRP).
“Although the claimant says that she is aware of resentment of the PRP amongst some Muslim pupils, there is no evidence that this has affected enrolment or led any of them to choose to leave.
“Nor, indeed, is there evidence of the issue being raised with the school since the PRP was introduced, other than in the context of this claim.
“On the contrary, the evidence is that since the PRP was introduced good relations within the school community have been restored.”
