Court grants Muslim students right to wear hijab in University of Ibadan school

Female Muslim students of the University of Ibadan International School, Ibadan (ISI) have been granted the right to wear hijab on top of their school uniforms by the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, the state capital. 

Female Muslim students and their parents had dragged the school and some principal officers of the institution to court following a 2018 controversy over the usage of hijab by female students. 

Ruling on the lawsuit on Wednesday, May 22, Justice Moshood Ishola held that the school, as a public institution, should allow female Muslim students 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 verdicts on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other charters, which grant freedom of religion and association.

The Judge said; 

“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.”