School's hair rule discriminated

17 June 2011 Last updated at 13:25 GMT The hairstyle was important to the boy's cultural identity, said his family A London school's ban of the cornrows hairstyle resulted in "unlawful, indirect racial discrimination", the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Collins said the ban by St Gregory's Catholic Science College in Harrow was not unlawful in itself, but should have taken into account individual pupils' family traditions.

A 13-year-old boy, "SG", was refused a place because of the hairstyle.

The school said it was "naturally disappointed" and may try to appeal.

"St Gregory's is proud of its rich cultural and ethnic diversity and is run on the belief that everyone at the school is equal and made in the image of God," it said in a statement.

Hero 'had cornrows'

SG's African-Caribbean family claimed the style was of importance to his cultural identity.

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This judgement is an important development. It echoes some of the defining moments in British race relations, such as Sikh bus conductors' 1970s battle to wear turbans.

The issue at the heart of the ruling is not explicit religious or racial rights - but the broader and more subjective question of what is culturally conventional.

The boy said he was left asking what was "wrong" with the only hairstyle he had ever known, something he regarded as part of his core identity and family traditions.

So although the school never intended to discriminate, the High Court said it did so indirectly.

Schools want their pupils to regard each other as equals, rather than as distinct groups, living parallel - but separate - lives.

But St Gregory's attempts to confront that multicultural challenge, by minimising differences in appearance, inadvertently rubbed up against the law: they wanted to ensure equality - but one pupil lost out as a result.

He was refused entry to St Gregory's as an 11-year-old on his first day in 2009 because he had the cornrows style - with hair braided, close along the scalp.

He was forced to attend another school. He does not wish to return to St Gregory's despite the outcome of the case.

In a statement read out to the High Court at an earlier hearing, SG said: "When I saw my idol, David Beckham, cornrow his hair, it showed me that he appreciated African hair styling, and that we are all the same underneath it all."

Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, ruled that the hair policy was not unlawful in itself, "but if it is applied without any possibility of exception" such as in the case of SG, "then it is unlawful".

'Fair' uniform policy

The judge said in future the school authorities must consider allowing other boys to wear cornrows if it was "a genuine family tradition based on cultural and social reasons".

Following the hearing, SG's solicitor, Angela Jackman said: "This is an important decision.

Rob Berkley, director of the race equality think-tank the Runnymede Trust: "This isn't an outrageous hairstyle"

"It makes clear that non-religious cultural and family practices associated with a particular race fall within the protection of equalities legislation."

The school said it had "always striven to ensure that our uniform policy, including that related to hair styles, is fair and equitable to the wide range of cultures which make up our school community".

The court had not decided SG was treated unlawfully or that the school had been guilty of any kind of discrimination, it added.

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