Setting an Example

A court in Zimbabwe recalled the landmark judgment in the Kesavananda Bharati case and held that compelling schoolchildren to salute the national flag was violative of their right to freedom of religion

THE constitutional court of Zimbabwe has held that the policy and actions of the education authorities in the country in compelling all schoolchildren, regardless of religious affiliation, to salute the national flag is violative of their right to freedom of religion, especially of those who belong to faiths that do not believe in the existence of God. According to the bench, mandating the children to salute the flag and say the words “Almighty God, in whose hands our future lies” as part of the recitation of schools’ national pledge of allegiance also infringed on their parents rights. The Court, however, clarified that saluting the national flag and saying the religious words in the pledge are not per se unconstitutional, but seem so due to it seeming like a compulsion.

The case raised questions of the constitutionality of the policy and the actions of the education authorities. The first question before the court was whether the policy and the actions of compelling the children, who held a religious belief that saluting a flag is “worshipping a graven image” and contrary to the fundamental doctrine of their faith, infringed on their right to freedom of religion.

The case was filed by a devout Chris tian in 2015, who alleged that the versions of the pledge violated his children’s fundamental right to freedom of religion. He and his children held a belief that it was a compelling precept of their faith that a secular object must not be saluted. He also alleged that the compulsion on his children to salute the national flag violated his parental right to determine, in accordance with his religious belief, their moral and religious upbringing.