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.
Identity
Schools can introduce a ban if it is necessary to preserve their special identity, but that was not the case with the Volendam school, the commission said.
At the end of last year, an orthodox Christian primary school in The Hague refused to accept a fill-in teacher because she was wearing an Islamic headscarf.