{"id":515780,"date":"2026-03-03T10:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515780\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:31:14","slug":"student-banned-from-year-12-formal-over-keffiyeh-settles-case-against-nsw-education-department-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515780\/","title":{"rendered":"Student banned from Year 12 formal over keffiyeh settles case against NSW education department | Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Year 12 student has reached a settlement with the New South Wales<\/a> education department after he was banned from attending his school formal because he wore a scarf that displayed a Palestinian flag and keffiyeh.<\/p>\n

In September 2024, Jad Salamah attended his graduation at Condell Park high school in south-west Sydney<\/a> wearing the double-sided scarf.<\/p>\n

He was asked by school staff to remove it, the department said in a statement, but he refused. As a result, he was unable to attend his school formal.<\/p>\n

Salamah began legal proceedings against the state of NSW alleging racial discrimination, which it denied. In the statement, published to its website<\/a> on Monday, the department said after mediation, the two parties had reached a confidential settlement and the matter was resolved.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement the department said it embraces cultural diversity and does so in part through its annual Harmony Day on 21 March.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn public schools we celebrate inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for all Australians, including the traditional custodians of the land to those who have come from many cultures around the world,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing theme for Harmony Day in public education is that everyone belongs and is marked by a time of cultural respect and celebration, including the wearing of cultural attire, display of cultural heritage, cuisine and tradition.<\/p>\n

This includes the wearing of cultural garments, including, but not limited to, the Hanbok, Idio, Kaftan, Keffiyeh, Kilt, Tallit, Yukata, cultural headdress, feather cloaks and garlands. To similar effect, at Year 12 school formals, students may wish to wear attire appropriate to their culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia was unable to reach Salamah and his family for comment.<\/p>\n

The race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, said he welcomed the department\u2019s statement about the importance of cultural respect and expression but would like to see \u201canti-racism action so that something like this doesn\u2019t happen again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to talk about social cohesion and cultural appreciation, there needs to be active systems-based efforts to confront and eliminate racism so people of all cultures feel included,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nour Salman, the anti-Palestinian racism project lead at the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan), said the student had experienced a \u201cclear case of anti-Palestinian racism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsking a Palestinian student to remove a keffiyeh, a recognised cultural symbol of identity and heritage, is discrimination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo student should be excluded from their own graduation for expressing who they are. Schools<\/a> are meant to protect students, not police their culture or heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinians continue to be singled out, their identity framed as controversial simply for existing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, a report by Apan said anti-Palestinian racism had become widespread in Australian schools since October 2023, primarily in NSW and Victoria.<\/p>\n

It was being used to \u201cprevent and silence\u201d the discussion of the war in Gaza<\/a> through a \u201cclimate of fear, censorship, intimidation and punishment\u201d, the group said.<\/p>\n

Jewish groups have reported a spike in antisemitism during the same time period, including a rising threat of violent attacks<\/a> and incidents of harassment and abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Palman said it \u201cshould not require legal action and public scrutiny for discrimination to be acknowledged\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also note that the department initially denied the allegations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis outcome must set a clear precedent across Australia: Palestinian identity is a protected cultural expression and must be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks after the 2024 incident, Salamah told Nine newspapers<\/a> that the experience had \u201cruined my high school memories\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept explaining that it\u2019s a cultural thing that I wear on special occasions, but they kept saying that I was making a political statement in a public school and I can\u2019t do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been going there since I was in year 7. It\u2019s supposed to be a place where I feel safe, and I\u2019m not judged for who I am, but I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Year 12 student has reached a settlement with the New South Wales education department after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-515780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}