Islamic pupil wins case to pray at German school

Berlin, Germany - A Berlin pupil has been awarded the right to perform Islamic prayer rituals at school, in a court ruling passed on Tuesday. Berlin's administrative court agreed with the complaint brought by the 16-year-old pupil, who attends a secondary school in the German capital.

Last year the court had provisionally allowed the teenage boy to pray once a day, during a break in lessons.

Education officials in the city feared that the decision could erode the neutrality of schools, leading to "islands of belief."

The judges ruled that the prayer rituals would not interfere with school operations, and based their decision on the right to religious freedom.