Sikh girl may turn Catholic for admission

 LONDON: A Sikh couple in a village in Britain is contemplating converting their four-year-old daughter as a Roman Catholic in order to get her admission to the school of their choice.

Baljit and Bal Singh said they would not mind changing their daughter’s religion if it means she can attend the St Paul’s Roman Catholic School in Wolviston village, Cleveland, next month.

Their daughter Maya has been attending nursery at St Paul’s for the past two years. But they were told a couple of days ago that there was no place available for Maya when she starts full-time education in a few weeks time.

“Two years ago when they took her into the nursery, why didn’t they say she wouldn’t get a place straight away in the primary school?” asked Baljit.

“I would have got her baptised then ... or I’d have put her in another school,” he added.
St Paul’s admission policy gives priority to children who have been baptised Roman Catholic, have been formally received into the Catholic church and live in the catchment area, or those who have a sibling at the school.

Priority then goes to other Christian denominations before children of other faiths, the Daily Mail reported.

After several pleas to the institute, the Sikh couple said they were seriously considering changing Maya’s religion if she were allowed into the same school.

Meanwhile, Catherine Connelly, head at St Paul’s, said the school had received 34 applications this year, compared to the norm of 24. The class size had also been expanded to the legal limit of 30. “We allocated the places according to our published admissions criteria which all parents had access to,” she said.