The Allahabad High Court has ruled that students cannot claim a right to modify a school’s prescribed uniform based on personal preferences, dismissing a plea by a student seeking permission to wear a Hijab along with the uniform.

The petition was filed by a minor girl through her mother. The student, enrolled in a private school in Prayagraj, had completed Class X and sought admission to Class XI in the same institution.

The petitioner asked the Court to direct the school to allow her to wear a hiab in addition to the prescribed uniform. She argued that wearing the headscarf was an essential part of Islamic religious practice and pointed out that she had been wearing it since Class VI.

A division bench comprising Justices JJ Munir and Indrajit Shukla, however, rejected the plea. The Court noted that photographs from the petitioner’s various classes showed that no other girl student was wearing a headscarf, including students belonging to the same religious community.

The bench also rejected the claim that wearing a headscarf was an essential religious practice under Islam. The Court observed that High Courts dealing with similar issues had consistently held that wearing a headscarf was not an essential part of the Islamic faith to the extent that its absence would jeopardise the religion.

The Court further noted that the petitioner’s assertion regarding the essential religious nature of the practice was merely a claim and was not supported by sufficient material.

On the issue of school discipline, the High Court held that an unaided private educational institution has the authority to prescribe and enforce a uniform dress code on its premises. Where the uniform is applied equally to all students and is intended to maintain discipline and equality, students cannot claim an individual right to alter it.

The Court observed that permitting students to modify the uniform according to their personal choices would undermine the very purpose of having a uniform and could effectively shift the authority to determine institutional discipline from the school to individual students.

The school maintained that it was a private, self-financed institution with a uniform dress code applicable to all students. It argued that granting an exemption to one student could compromise uniformity and discipline, particularly in an institution attended by children from diverse communities.

The State government and the CBSE also opposed the petition.

The judgment was delivered on August 21, with the High Court ultimately declining to grant the student permission to wear a headscarf along with the prescribed school uniform.