Grange welcomes court ruling on dreadlocks

Culture Minister Olivia Grange has welcomed Monday's decision by the Court of Appeal which ruled that Kensington Primary School in Portmore, St Catherine violated the constitutional rights of a female student by denying her admission due to her refusal to cut her dreadlocked hair.

In July, 2020, the Supreme Court had ruled that the school had not infringed on the constitutional rights of the child because her parents did not identify as Rastafarian, nor did they claim they were raising the child as Rastafarian.

Grange noted that the ruling by Justice Patrick Brooks, the President of the Court of Appeal, did not mention the infringement of religious rights as the Supreme Court had done, saying instead 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.

Grange says she is aware of the challenges faced by Rastafarian in general and in particular Rastafarian children in schools.

“In my sectoral presentation on June 25, 2024, I specifically referred to a situation where Rastafari students of a primary school had been barred from sitting exams because they had not been vaccinated as required. I pointed out that this was a violation of their religious rights, as well as the prevention of students to wear Afrocentric hairstyles in schools.

“I stated then that as Minister with responsibility for Rastafari matters, I will be leading the advocacy for the setting of clear rules on the matter. I state again, as I have done many times in the past, that there is no room for discrimination of Rasta in the new Jamaica which this Government is determined to build, saying we must live together in harmony, respecting each others cultural identity and expression,” said Grange.

The culture minister says the decision of the Court of Appeal finally brings closure to the Kensington Primary School issue.

She renewed her call for the wider society to examine its approach to members of the Rastafari community, and pledged to end discrimination that is manifested in those actions by bringing to Parliament a motion to make all such discrimination illegal, and indeed, unconstitutional.

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