‘I’ve been called into the principal’s office'

Earlier this month, news broke that a 17-year-old student at Condell Park High School in Sydney's west has filed a complaint against the school with the Australian Human Rights Commission. The student, who has not been named in media reports, was banned from attending his school formal because he wore a scarf with a keffiyeh pattern to his year 12 graduation ceremony.

The teenager, who is of Palestinian heritage, told The Sydney Morning Herald how several school staff members tried to confiscate his scarf while he waited to receive his graduation certificate, and warned him that he "wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the higher-ups so close to the end of the year".

“I kept explaining that it’s 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’t do that,” he said. "The experience has ruined my high school memories. It’s supposed to be a place where I feel safe, and I’m not judged for who I am, but I was wrong."