In what lawyers termed an important test case for multi-faith education, a judge ruled that 15-year-old Shabina Begum did not have a legal right to wear a jilbab, a long, flowing gown covering her entire body except her hands and face.

The case, heard at the High Court in London, echoed a recent controversy over the French government's decision to ban "religious symbols" such as Islamic headscarves in schools.

The lawyer representing Begum -- who has not attended school since September 2002 -- had argued that the rules on dress amounted to "constructive exclusion". This breached both British law and the European Convention on Human Rights, she said.

But lawyers for Denbigh High School in Luton, north of London, where almost 80 percent of pupils are Muslim, argued that Islamic pupils had a wide choice of other traditional clothing they could wear. For girls, this included skirts, trousers or a traditional and popular South Asian form of attire called a shalwar kameez, comprising trousers under a dress-length tunic.

Only Begum had insisted on wearing the jilbab and as such had effectively chosen to stay away, the court heard. Judge Hugh Bennett ruled in favour of the school, saying the limits it imposed on what pupils could wear were "proportionate" and could not be deemed a breach of human rights.

"Although it appears that there is a body of opinion within the Muslim faith that only the jilbab meets the requirements of its dress code, there is also a body of opinion that the shalwar kameez does as well," he said.

"In my judgment, the adoption of the shalwar kameez by the defendant as school uniform for Muslim -- and other faiths -- female pupils was, and continues to be, a reasoned, balanced, proportionate policy."

Lawyer Iqbal Javed, speaking for the school, welcomed the judgment, saying the school's dress code had been endorsed by the local Council of Mosques. "The uniform is designed to be inclusive and takes into account the cultural and religious sensitivities of pupils at the school," he said.

The court had been told that Begum, an academically strong pupil of Bangladeshi origin who hoped to become a doctor, had previously worn a shalwar kameez but developed a deepening interest in Islam. When she arrived at the start of the academic year in September 2002 wearing a jilbab, she was told to go home and change, but refused.

Ultimately, this was her decision, Judge Bennett said. "It was at all times open to her to change her mind, dress in the school uniform and return to school," he said. "The fact that she felt that she could not change her mind does not invalidate the fact that she had a choice."

AFP