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Sikh students forced to do
hairdressing, slam college
 SYDNEY:
Adding insult to
injury of Sikh students, the
Global
College
in Australia is forcing Sikh students to take up a course in hair
dressing instead of commercial cookery. To mention a few, Jatinder
Bir Singh and Shantinderjit Kaur are now borrowing money from
friends and well wishes to take up admission in other colleges as
they would not take up hairdressing under any circumstances.
Jatinder Bir Singh sold his home and hearth to pay for his admission
and had ambitious plans to send money back home soon. He is now at
the precipice of disaster.
The Punjab
student had chosen to study commercial cookery as there was ample
scope for permanent residency after acquiring culinary skills.
However, when he arrived in Australia he was dismayed to discover
that he could not study commercial cookery as planned but was told
to switch over to hairdressing. Nothing could be more shocking to a
practicing Sikh who does not cut his own hair. That the college has
no understanding of sensibilities is quiet clear and is now playing
with the career of the students.
Mr Singh said
the college had promised him in India that if he agreed to accept a
place in hairdressing he would be given a spot in commercial cookery
once he arrived on Australian soil. Now they were telling him he was
stuck in hairdressing. "When I said, 'This is against my religion. I
want a refund', they said no," Mr Singh said.
 Mr Singh's story
is repeated by Shantinder Jit Kaur, who says she sold her jewellery
to afford the airfare and $22,000 course fee, only to be told by
Global College on arrival that she could not switch to commercial
cookery and must study business. "I sold my jewellery. You can't
imagine," Ms Kaur said. "I took a bank loan. In all the statements I
put 'commercial cookery'."
The college's
operations manager, Omar Hong, said the students were all told that
their switch to a place in commercial cookery was contingent on
space becoming available. "We've never tried to mislead students,"
Mr Hong said. Amit Baijal, the director of the education agency
Visna Info, has lent several students money to apply to different
colleges because he felt sorry for them.
20
February 2008
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