Challenge to Secondary School Hair Rules | School Board Granted Approval to Submit CUHK Professor’s Report on School Uniform and Grooming Norms
挑戰中學髮禁｜校董會一方擬呈中大教授報告證校服儀容有常規 官批准
Two secondary school graduates filed a claim in the District Court, saying they had gender dysphoria and special educational needs but that the schools had failed to address them. They said that, after they refused to cut their hair short, they were required either to be publicly singled out at school or to switch to online classes, causing them severe emotional distress. They asked the court to declare that the schools had breached the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and Disability Discrimination Ordinance, and sought compensation and an apology. Both sides separately applied to submit expert reports. District Court Chief Judge Ko King-shiu handed down a judgment on Tuesday (23rd), approving the schools’ application to submit an expert report by a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to demonstrate that there are conventions in Hong Kong regarding school uniforms and grooming. The students questioned how the expert’s research methods could establish such conventions, and argued that, even if they existed, they involved gender stereotypes. The judge held that the schools’ expert was professionally qualified to give evidence and that the research methods could be challenged at trial. The judge therefore approved the inclusion of the report at this stage.
兩名中學畢業生入稟區院，指自己有性別不安及特殊學習需要，但校方完全沒處理，更因他們拒絕剪短頭髮，被要求在校內示眾或改上網課，令他們承受沉重精神壓力，要求法庭宣告校方違反性別和殘疾歧視條例、作賠償及道歉。 雙方各自申請呈交專家報告。區院首席法官高勁修周二（23 日）頒判詞，批准校方的申請，讓其呈交中大教授的專家報告，以證明香港在校服和儀容上有常規；學生一方則質疑專家的研究方法如何證明常規，而就算有，亦涉性別刻板印象。 官認為，校方的專家有專業資格提供證據，而其研究方法可在審訊中挑戰，故現階段批准加入報告。