The Court of Appeal has ruled that Kensington Primary School breached the constitutional rights of a child when it denied her access to school based on her dreadlocked hairstyle.
The ruling partly overturns a July 2020 ruling by the Constitutional Court, which found that none of the child’s constitutional rights had been breached.
That ruling had triggered widespread public outcry.
Ricardo Brooks has been reading the ruling.
The then five year old child, who is referred to as ZV because she’s a minor, was denied enrolment at Kensington Primary in Portmore, St. Catherine, after the principal advised her parents that the school had a policy against the wearing of dreadlocks.
The school’s policy also banned the wearing of braids or beads.
The primary school told the child’s parents that past experiences with poor grooming, which led to an outbreak of lice and fungus, were the justification for the ban on dreadlocks.
The family filed a suit alleging the school had breached the child’s rights to freedom of expression, equitable and humane treatment by a public authority, among other grounds.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the lawsuit, and upheld the school’s actions against the child.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal said the lower court ruling was wrong and flawed.
President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Patrick Brooks, declared that the school’s policy against dreadlocks breached ZV’s rights to freedom of expression and equitable treatment by a public authority.
Importantly, the Appeal Court said those breaches were not demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
King’s Counsel Michael Hylton, who led the legal team on behalf of the Virgo family, says the ruling is a significant victory.
While the Court of Appeal did not find there was a breach of the family’s right to protection of private life, privacy of the home, and freedom of religion, KC Hylton says the ruling is groundbreaking in applying freedom of expression to hairstyles.
The Virgo family was represented by Michael Hylton, Daynia Allen, and Isat Buchanan.
The government and Kensington Primary were represented by King’s Counsel Althea Jarrett and Jevaughnia Clarke.
The child is to have one half of her costs in the Court of Appeal and in the Constitutional Court.
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