A Year 12 student has been banned from his school after wearing a Palestinian scarf to his graduation ceremony.
The 17-year-old has now filed a report the Australian Human Rights Commission after he was barred from attending the end-of-year celebrations at Condell Park High School in Sydney’s west on November 28.
During his graduation ceremony in September, the teen’s older sister had given him a keffiyeh with the traditional black and white pattern. was able to showcase his Palestinian heritage on the most important day of his school life.
But several teachers accused the boy of making a political statement during the conflict in the Middle East and demanded he make the statement, he told the newspaper. Sydney Morning Herald.
Their demands came despite the school’s long-standing practice of allowing students to showcase their culture through certain items of clothing.
He claimed that some staff members even tried to prevent him from having his picture taken with other classmates.
“I kept explaining that it’s a cultural thing that I wear on special occasions, but they kept saying I was making a political statement at a public school and I can’t do that,” he told the publication.
“They said it wouldn’t be the smartest decision to continue it and that I wouldn’t want to end up on the wrong side of the higher-ups so close to the end of the year.”
A Year 12 student has been banned from his school after wearing a Palestinian scarf to his graduation ceremony (stock image)
Other parents present at the ceremony asked staff to drop the issue and allow the boy to wear his scarf.
His family also failed to convince the school that it was a simple tribute to his own heritage.
Two weeks after his graduation, the boy was called into a meeting with the staff, who informed him that his decision to don the scarf had disqualified him from attending the formal.
“The experience ruined my high school memories. “It’s supposed to be a place where I feel safe, and I’m not judged for who I am, but I was wrong,” he said.
Employees at Condell Park High School (pictured) asked the student to remove his garment during the graduation ceremony and accused him of making a political statement
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said Condell Park High ‘will continue to work with the family and their legal representatives to resolve this matter’.
The boy’s lawyer sent a complaint to the Ministry of Education requesting a formal apology and demanding that he be reinvited to attend the formal.
Are Lawyer Abdullah Reslan of Kings Law Group also added that “laws must be put in place to protect the community from racial discrimination.”
“It is alarming that taxpayer dollars are being spent on lawyers to prevent an innocent boy from attending his formal meeting with his peers under these circumstances,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Condell Park High School for comment.