By Chisomo Phiri
Rastafarian children in the country can now have access to government schools following the High Court ruling ordering Ministry of Education to stop barring them because of dreadlocks.
The High Court sitting in Zomba on Monday and presided over by Judge Zione Ntaba said the matter is unconstitutional.
Ntaba ordered the Ministry of Education to write circulars to all publics schools by June 30, to start admitting learners and students with dreadlocks in schools.
In a judicial review case by two minors who were barred from enrolling to Blantyre Girls Primary School and Malindi Secondary School on the basis that they had dreadlocks, the two applied that the provision infringed on their right to access education.
The two, in partnership with an interested party, Center for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA), applied for a judicial review of the case.
The office of the Attorney General applied to the court to discontinue the case saying there was no said policy that bars dreadlocked children in schools.
CHREAA lawyer Chikondi Chijozi hailed what she described as a landmark ruling in promotion of education amongst all Malawians.
This means that the Malawi Education Act of 2012 which, among others, has provisions which bar Rastafarian children from attending school in dreadlocks is to be abolished.
