It is not difficult to figure out why the parents of an Indian-origin boy are so upset that they have taken their son out of Vicar’s Green Primary School in London’s Wembley area. He was told not to wear a tilak to school and had allegedly been targeted by the management for religious “skin markings". So much so that the parents had to remove him; three other Hindu students had left earlier. Yet, the school’s website has photos of female students in hijabs.

Worse still, the headteacher is of Indian origin and is accused by a British community advocacy group of leading the charge against the boy for wearing a tilak. The school, through an official statement, averred that its “longstanding school policy asks pupils not to wear visible skin markings, including religious ones." The logical question would be why there was an embargo on religious “markings" if hijabs—and presumably turbans—are allowed.

Oddly, for a school that reportedly has many Indian-origin and/or Hindu students, the statement added, “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." Tilaks are neither esoteric nor rare—nor even a secret Masonic symbol—so why did the school authorities need to ask the parents to clarify? Was the Indian-origin headteacher mystified too?

Besides the headteacher, at least two of the governors of the school are of Pakistani-origin—one of whom is a borough councillor and former mayor—as well as one who is definitely of........

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