UK: Hindu parents remove son from London primary school in row over tilak-chandlo

TOI correspondent from London: A Hindu couple have removed their eight-year-old son from a London primary school saying he was discriminated against for his religion and challenged for wearing the tilak-chandlo.

The boy was a pupil at Vicar’s Green Primary School in Alperton where staff told him the tilak-chandlo violated the uniform code, which does not allow “skin marks”, and he was reportedly asked to “explain and justify” his religious practice.

He was allegedly removed from positions of responsibility within the school “solely because of his religious practice” and “monitored” during break times. When Hindu parents made attempts to educate the headteacher and school governors, they “challenged and questioned Hindu practices, behaving as though they possessed a greater understanding of the faith”, a spokesperson for INSIGHT UK, an advocacy body for British Hindus, said. INSIGHT wrote to the school on Sunday claiming what the school had done was a breach of the Equality Act. The parents removed their son from the school last week.

“The school claimed the tilak-chandlo wasn’t a mandatory practice in Hinduism. In our letter we have quoted from various Hindu scriptures pointing out it is an integral part of Hinduism, especially for certain sects,” the spokesperson said, adding calling the tilak-chandlo a “skin mark” was “deeply offensive.”

Three Hindu siblings left the same school earlier because of religious discrimination, INSIGHT claimed.

The school, for pupils aged three to 11, was judged outstanding by Ofsted in 2024.

A school spokesperson said: “We are proud to be a diverse and inclusive school with pupils with more than 50 language backgrounds and a significant number who are Hindu. Our longstanding school policy asks pupils not to wear visible skin markings, including religious ones. We met with the parents of a pupil who was wearing a tilak-chandlo on their forehead to discuss the matter sensitively and sought to understand the reason for it. We fully recognised the family’s religious beliefs and, in a spirit of conciliation, we offered a reasonable compromise by making an exception to our policy so the symbol could be worn on a less prominent part of the body. This was, unfortunately, rejected by the pupil’s parents. We have always approached these discussions respectfully.”

The Hindu Council UK is drafting a letter to a separate primary school in Kent where a girl, whose parents are Hindu and Sikh, is being threatened with exclusion for wearing a nose stud and a kada.