The High Court in Zomba has ordered the Ministry of Education to allow children of Rastafarian religion enroll into public schools.
The court has issued the order following an application sought by a pupil who wanted to be enrolled at Blantyre Girls Primary School.
In its order, the court said the child should be allowed to enroll at the school and her class teacher should offer the child make up classes if she has missed any classes at the time she was not able to go to school because of her religion.
“Report of the said make up classes should be made available to the court,” the court order reads in part.
To the school, the court said the institution should “Ensure that the applicant is fully supported and not subjected to any hardships due to the injunction, otherwise the court shall hold the school authorities in contempt.”
The High Court then ordered the Ministry of Education to allow all children of Rastafarian religion who have dreadlocks to be admitted into government schools.
For a longtime, Rastafarians have been pushing the government to let children with dreadlocks to access education in public school but the government has been rejecting their request.
