A Sikh family in Australia on Tuesday won a legal battle against a Christian school which refused to enrol their five-year-old son because of his turban.
Sidhak Singh Arora was due to start preparatory at Melton Christian College (MCC) in Melbourne’s north-west, this year.
But his patka (children’s turban) does not comply with the school’s uniform policy which prohibits students from wearing any type of religious head covering.
Sagardeep Singh Arora and his wife Anureet said the school breached the Equal Opportunity Act by not allowing Sidhak to wear a patka when they tried to enrol him in 2016, Herald Sun reported.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) ruled in the parents’ favour, finding the school had discriminated against Sidhak, it said.
The family of 5-year-old Sidhak Singh is fighting for what they call his right to study in a Christian school. Know this story http://bit.ly/2vIdoxJ
Posted by SBS Punjabi on Tuesday, 25 July 2017
“Whilst MCC is a Christian school, it has an open enrolment policy which means that it accepts enrolments of students from other faiths,” VCAT member Julie Grainger found.
“A little over 50 per cent of the school community does not identify explicitly as Christian and many families at the school have no religious beliefs,” the report said.
“It is not reasonable to accept enrolment applications from students from non-Christian faiths only on the condition that they do not look like they practice a non-Christian religion,” it said.
The school could have amended its uniform policy to allow Sidhak to wear a turban in school colours, the VCAT finding added.
Grainger ordered the parents and the school to sit down and negotiate an agreement on what orders can be made to resolve the situation.
Sikh student turban issue: Melton Christian College’s principal David Gleeson told the VCAT that it is not breaching the Equal Opportunity Act as there is an exemption allowing it to enforce reasonable dress standards. Know this story http://bit.ly/2vIdoxJ
Posted by SBS Punjabi on Tuesday, 25 July 2017
The Aroras previously said they still wanted Sidhak to attend the school as it is where his cousins study and it is close to their home.
Photo credit: sbs.com.au
