Judgment No. CCZ 7/16 13
Const. Application No. CCZ 17/15
distinction, I do not think that it is necessarily discriminatory on the ground of religion.
Every parent who agrees to this condition does so willingly and actively chooses to abide
by its implications. Thus, as I have stated earlier in relation to the right to education, it
cannot be said that this mutually agreed condition per se amounts to discriminatory
treatment at the point of admission to the School.
Insofar as concerns the stage after admission, I am inclined to agree with
Adv. de Bourbon that the previous practice of the School in exempting pupils from
attending chapel on religious grounds might be deemed to have been a form of reverse
discrimination in that they were indirectly accorded a privilege that pupils of the
Anglican faith were not being accorded. As for the present policy of insisting on chapel
attendance by all pupils, I am not persuaded that the applicants’ daughters are being
treated differently from the other pupils on account of their religion. While I fully concur
with the liberal and purposive approach to constitutional interpretation, I do not think it
permissible to amplify or expand the clear language of the Constitution to encompass
rights and obligations not provided for by the legislature either expressly or by necessary
implication.
Having regard to the test of what constitutes discriminatory treatment as
articulated in s 56(4), I do not perceive that the applicants’ daughters are being subjected
directly or indirectly to a condition, restriction or disability to which other pupils are not
subjected or that other pupils are being accorded directly or indirectly a privilege or
advantage which they are not accorded. On the contrary, it seems to me that they are
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