Makeda Mbewe was just six years old when she was kicked out of her primary school in Malawi for wearing her hair in the dreadlocks of her Rastafarian religion.

Two years later, she is back in the playground, thanks to a landmark court ruling in January forcing state schools to accept children wearing their hair the Rastafarian way.

The case was galvanised by her family, who joined forces with dozens of other Rastafarian parents to try to force the education system to end discrimination against children from one of the country's smallest religious minorities.

Rastafarianism is a religious movement of Jamaican origin which considers former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie to be its Messiah.

Many Rastafarians sport dreadlocks which for them symbolise the Lion of Judah, one of the late emperor's titles.

Dreadlocks gained global recognition thanks to the cultural influence of the late reggae star Bob Marley, also a Rastafarian, and have since become popular the world over.

Malawi's 15 000 Rastafarians have long suffered discrimination because of their hairstyle.

In government-run schools, children were told either to shave or cut off the locks, refused enrolment or simply thrown out of class.

Whether the practice had a legal foundation was the central point of the courtroom battle.

The ministry of education said the ban was justified under a policy that required all pupils to have a smart appearance and keep clean hair.

But, challenged by lawyers for the Rastafarian children, it was unable to produce documents to prove that the policy existed.

On January 14, High Court judge Zione Ntaba ordered the country's 7 000-odd government-run schools to admit "all children of Rastafari religion, who have dreadlocks".