Parents relieved after Court of Appeal rules school breached rights of child with dreadlocks

   

The parents of the then five-year-old student who was denied access to Kensington Primary School in 2018, because of her dreadlocked hairstyle, are breathing a sigh of relief following Monday's landmark Court of Appeal ruling that the ban breached the constitutional rights of the child.

 

Outgoing president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Patrick Brooks, in handing down the decision, noted that the child's right to freedom of expression and the right to equitable treatment by a public authority in the exercise of any function were violated.

 

The ruling overturned in part a 2020 decision of the Supreme Court that the school's policy did not breach the child's constitutional rights.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News the child's mother, Sherene Virgo, said she was fearful that the appellate court would have agreed with the lower court's decision. 

 

"I have a second child. It means I no longer have to live in fear of whether or not he will be refused entry to another school because of his hair. For us, it also means that we have paved the way.... This is the whole reason for really going at it. I don't want no other child to have to endure all of this. Every single year, every single September we hear about students being refused from schools and, you know, not everybody has the voice, so I'm happy that we were able to pave that way for other students," said Mrs. Virgo.