Barely six years after legal tussle between the management of International School, Ibadan (ISI), University of Ibadan and her students over the right of female students to wear hijab on school uniform, an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, the state capital, has granted female Muslim students the right to wear hijab on top of their school uniforms.
Justice Moshood Ishola who presided over the matter in court on Wednesday gave the judgement.
International School, Ibadan is a staff secondary School of the University of Ibadan.
DAILY POST reports that the controversy over the usage of hijab by female Muslim students of the University of Ibadan International School, Ibadan, started in November 2018 when the secondary school denied some female Muslim students the right to use hijab on top of their uniforms.
The female Muslim students and their parents dragged the school, the University of Ibadan, and some principal officers of the institution to court.
The students included Faridah Akerele, Aaliyah Dokpesi, Akhifah Dokpesi, Raheemah Akinlusi, Imam Akinoso, Hamdallah Olosunde, Aliyyah Adebayo, Moriddiyah Yekinni, Ikhlas Badiru, Mahmuda Babarinde, and Fareedah Moshood.
The judge, in his judgment, said he based his judgment on previous court judgments at the Supreme Court.
He held that the school, as a public institution, should allow female Muslim students the right to wear hijab.
He added that the school does not have the right to deny the students their fundamental human rights.
Ishola said he based all his verdict on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other charters, which grant freedom of religion and association.
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“The school, staff, or its agents have no right to punish students for using hijab on the school premises or outside the school premises.
“Fundamental human rights are inalienable rights and cannot be taken, even by the powerful government. The school is a public institution.”
