Netherlands: Catholic school discriminates with headscarf ban

A Catholic high school in Volendam is guilty of discrimination on religious grounds for banning a Muslim pupil from wearing a headscarf, the equal opportunities commission said on Friday.

The girl started wearing a headscarf this school year and was banned from attending lessons, prompting her father to make a complaint.

The commission said school pupils should, in principle, be free to wear a headscarf, Jewish skullcap or Christian cross.

Dutch News, 7 January 2011