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Belz school driving ban plan dropped

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The Equality and Human Rights Commission has said it received a "satisfactory response" from the two Chasidic schools that had threatened to ban pupils whose mothers drive .

Parents of the independent Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass boys school and the Beis Malka girls school, run by the Belz Chasidic sect in Stamford Hill, north London, were warned last month that it was considered against the rules of modesty for women to drive.

The EHRC wrote to the schools to say that it would be unlawful to deny children entry on such grounds.

The Commission said this week it had received a commitment from governors at both schools "that they will not exclude or refuse admission to any child or apply any other sanction on the basis of their mother driving".

No legal proceedings will now be launched by the EHRC.

The JC's revelation of the schools' plans led to widespread controversy last month.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the intended ban was "at odds with Jewish values".

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