Jewish sect schools back down over driving ban

After news of the ban broke, the two schools run for the Belz community in north London came under pressure from the government, which said it was investigating, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which said the move was “unlawful”.

Under pressure from both, the chief executive of the schools Ahron Klein said that it was up to women whether or not they drove and that no children would be barred from the TTMH Belz Day School and Beis Malka Girls’ School as a result of their decision.

He said: “The headteacher sent out the letter on behalf of the spiritual heads of the community who had not taken into account the implications of such a policy.

“However, the message that children will be excluded has not come from the school’s board of governors who did not approve the letter in advance.

“The school believes that women have a choice about whether they want to drive or not, and our policy is to accept all children who are members of our community, which we have been doing for the last 40 years.”

‘Traditional rules of modesty’

It was first reported by the Jewish Chronicle on Thursday 28 May that the religious leaders of the tiny community had issued the guidance. The letter, which was seen by Channel 4 News, told women that driving would offend “traditional rules of modesty” observed by their community.

The letter read: “In particular, there is great consternation and resentment amongst our students studying in the holy establishments against this practice. A woman driving a vehicle cannot send her children for education within the Belz institutions.

“Therefore, we are to inform you that as of the beginning of June 2015, it will not be possible for a student to study within our establishment if his/her mother drives a car.

“Any mother who must drive due to a special reason (such as a medical condition) must forward a request to a special committee and that committee will consider her request.”

A statement released on behalf of the women of the community said that they supported the guidance because driving is a “high-pressured activity where our values may be compromised by exposure to selfishness, road-rage, bad language and other inappropriate behaviour”. They added: “We do, however, understand that there are many who conduct lifestyles that are different to ours, and we do not, in any way, disrespect them or the decisions they make.”

Later that day, the Department for Education confirmed to Channel 4 News that it was looking into the matter. The Education Secretary Nicky Morgan went on to criticise the guidance as “completely unacceptable in modern Britain”.

And, days after that, the EHRC added its voice to the opposition. A statement read: “This sort of discrimination has no place in our society and we will be writing to leaders of Hasidic Belz educational institutions to underline their legal obligations. It is unlawful to ban children from school attendance because their mothers, rather than their fathers, drive them there.”

Before the schools’ climbdown was announced, the schools had sought to defuse the situation by issuing a statement “clarifying” the guidance.

“Over the last few days our community has become distressed and saddened by the misrepresentation of the notice we sent to the parents of our schools and the ensuing publicity.

“It was never our intention to stigmatise or discriminate against children or their parents for the sole reason that either of the parents drives a car. We have already made it clear to our community that they need have no reason for concern. We accept that the choice of words was unfortunate and if a negative impression was created by our letter then we unreservedly apologise for that,” it read.