A civil rights association has filed a lawsuit against a Berlin high school for prohibiting prayer rooms, arguing that the policy discriminates against Muslim students. The Society For Civil Rights (GFF) filed the action on October 16th, citing state anti-discrimination law.
According to the school’s regulations, the “demonstrative practice of religious rites” is banned “in the interest of maintaining school peace.”
GFF claims that this restriction disproportionately affects Muslim students, who are prevented from performing Islamic prayers on school grounds. Legal expert Soraia Da Costa Batista, speaking for the NGO, said: “If Muslim students have to hide in toilets and bushes to pray for fear of being reprimanded, this is a profound infringement of their fundamental rights.”
The school principal, however, told Tagesspiegel that prayer rooms often disrupt school peace and that many schools in Berlin face challenges managing them. Education expert Margit Stein, who conducted a study on religious practices in Berlin schools, reported that prayer rooms can cause tensions among students, with some keeping records of usage shared with local mosques.
Stein’s study found that roughly one-third of participants experienced issues, including conflicts over dress codes, fasting during Ramadan, and antisemitism.
GFF has previously challenged over twenty school regulations in Berlin during 2023, targeting bans on prayer, dress codes, and the requirement to speak German on school grounds.
It is noteworthy that the GFF’s justification for the lawsuit refers exclusively to discriminaton against Muslim students.
The lcourt case comes after the German state of Schleswig-Holstein granted Muslims two public holidays for Ramadan and Eid, while also preparing to introduce Islamic studies as a regular school subject.
