Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian

Muslim groups and governors warned last night that the schoolgirl who won the right to wear the Islamic shoulder-to-toe dress in the classroom should not be used as a political football.
Shabina Begum, 16, fought a two-year battle in the courts, arguing that her school had breached her human rights by not allowing her to wear the jilbab. This week the appeal court ruled that her former school had acted against her right to express her religion.

A headteachers' organisation said the decision would "drive a coach and horses" through schools' right to set their uniform policy, amid further fears the ruling would have far-reaching consequences.

But last night the Department for Education and Skills said that although ministers will "look again" at the government's guidance, the court's decision would have no effect on the rights of individual schools to chose their own uniforms.

Abeer Pharaon, chair of the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, agreed the case did not have any wider implications and said it should be seen as a "one off".

"This is an exception and should not be turned into a political case," she said. "We must be careful not to make a bigger issue of this than is necessary. The UK is a tolerant society and a multicultural place to live and this is dear to us as Muslims," she said.

She said this was the only case of its kind that the organisation had encountered. "We must ensure that there is good communication between parents, pupils and schools, which does happen in most cases," she added.

School governors set policy on uniforms in line with DfES guidelines. Carol Woodhouse, a member of the executive of the National Association of School Governors, said she did not think the ruling would change the way governors operated.

"This has been a very difficult situation but I think the message ... is that we have to make sure that they are working with wider community to ensure that school uniforms are acceptable to all groups. I don't think this ruling will change the way governors operate but it may make them more aware ...", she said.

Shabina had worn shalwar kameez [trousers and tunic] to Denbigh high school in Luton until September 2002 when she decided it was against the tenets of her religion and was subsequently excluded.

Last night the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahreer denied it had advised Shabina during the case. "We were not involved in her case in any way but we were there for her in terms of explaining Islamic values as we are for the Muslim community in general," said Nazreen Nawaz, the organisation's spokeswoman.

Denbigh high school said it had lost the case on a technicality and was proud of its multi-faith policy which it insisted took the cultural and religious sensitivities of pupils into account.