A Sikh family is preparing to challenge a Sydney Catholic school’s decision to deny admission to their five-year-old son because of his ‘long hair’.
Tavnoor Singh was already enrolled in a Catholic school but his parents say they wanted to move him to a school closer to their home.
“We were called for an interview after we sent in an enrollment form along with Tavnoor’s photos, but I was shocked when the deputy principal said Tavnoor would have to cut his hair to attend that school,” Tavnoor’s mother Harpreet Kaur says.
Mrs Kaur says the deputy Principal at St Francis Catholic college Edmondson Park told her the school’s uniform policy required all boys to have short hair. She said her argument of Tavnoor being a Sikh did not cut any ice with the school when she attended the interview last year. 
Mrs Kaur claims an enrolment officer of the school said if her son was allowed to wear a turban, other children would come with “rat tails”.
Tavnoor Singh Source: Supplied
Mrs Kaur says she found it “rude and discriminatory”. She said when she raised the matter with the school principal by sending him an email, she did not get a reply for many days.
“Almost a week later, the principal called me and apologised for what happened. But, he said the decision of not to enrol Tavnoor was his,” she tells SBS Punjabi.
Tim Gilmour from the Diocese of Wollongong said all applications for school enrollments are processed in accordance with the Diocesan Enrolment policy and procedures.
“Catholic schools have policies and expectations in place in regard to the operation of the school, including student uniform and student grooming/appearance,” Mr Gilmour said in a statement issued to SBS Punjabi.
“These are school-based policies that are created and established in consultation with school community members,” he said. “All parents seeking enrollment of their child in the school are made aware of these expectations during an enrolment interview.”
In a similar case last week, Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal ruled that a Catholic school discriminated against 5-year-old Sidhak Singh Arora who was denied admission to Melton Christian College citing their school uniform policy.
Sidhak Singh Arora and his father Sagardeep Singh Arora. Source: SBS
The VCAT held that the school breached the Equal Opportunity Act of Victoria by discriminating against Sidhak Singh Arora.
Sidhak Arora’s case is considered a test case in Victoria. The verdict of this case has now prompted Tavnoor’s family to challenge St Francis Catholic College’s decision to deny him admission.
“When this happened last year, I tried to approach the Anti-Discrimination Board, but I wasn’t aware of the procedure. But after the verdict in Sidhak’s case, we are also inclined to take a similar action,” Mrs Kaur says.
Tavnoor Singh is currently studying in a public school in Sydney.
