There are conflicting reports about whether the school assembly national anthem has been banned at a Queensland Islamic school.
Pravin Chand, a former teacher at the Australian International Islamic College in Carrarra, says he was given the boot shortly after he proposed students to sing Advance Australia Fair.
According to Chand, the anthem was ruled out for being “against the Islamic view and ethos”.
Mr Chand says that his story can be backed up by a second teacher, and that he had not heard the anthem at all this year.
“No national anthem to me means no integration with Australian kids,” Mr Chand told News Limited.
“Western values (at the school) are a no-no.
“It’s like a paramilitary camp that place.”
But the school’s chairman, Imam Abdul Quddoos Azhari, denied that the anthem had been canned and that students sang it at “every function”.
The school said it terminated Mr Chand’s employment because he was “not fitting into the school’s ethos”.
There are now suggestions that the calls to not broadcast the anthem are as a result of various Islamic religious practices, which forbid the performance or transmission of music on Holy days.
Principal of the school, Azroul Liza Khalid, said she had never heard the anthem at assembly, although it had been played previously.
She said she was told by a board member that the anthem was not to be played on Friday, for religious reasons. The school’s assembly day was moved from Monday to Friday earlier this year.
It is not a legal requirement for the Australian National Anthem to be played at schools.