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Education and schools > Admission of learners to schools > Refusing to admit a learner to school > Can a learner be disciplined for cultural practices that are ‘against school rules’?
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Can a learner be disciplined for cultural practices that are ‘against school rules’?

In the case of MEC for Education (KZN) v Navaneethum Pillay the Constitutional Court found that the refusal by a school to allow one of its pupils to wear a small gold nose stud (which she argued was part of her cultural heritage and identity) constituted unfair discrimination against the pupil on both a cultural and religious basis, and the school was ordered to let the pupil wear the nose stud.