Blow For Muslim Students As Supreme Court Overturns Ruling Allowing Them To Wear

Eniola Olayemi

Kenya’s Supreme Court said every school has a right to determine its own dress code.

Kenya’s top court has overturned a 2016 Court of Appeal ruling that allowed Muslim students to wear hijab in non-Muslim schools.

In Thursday’s ruling on the petition filed by the Methodist Church of Kenya, the Supreme Court said every school has a right to determine its own dress code.

The hijab is a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion.

The 2016 ruling came after a church-run school banned female students from wearing the hijab, saying that it sowed discord.

Kenya has had a long-running dispute over the role of the hijab at Christian schools, with some of them banning the hijab outright in the past.

Around 10 percent of the Kenyan population practices Islam, while 84 percent follows Christianity, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Some Kenyans took to social media to criticise the decision, especially as the ruling comes after the country’s Ministry of Education allowed turbans in schools for students of different religions which require head coverings, including Rastafarians.