Hindu kids ‘should not be deprived’ of faith-based schools in Australia
Education Minster Jason Clare is supportive of developing the first Hindu school in Australia, as the Hindu community seeks a federal government funding commitment.
Leaders of Australia’s fastest growing religious group say Hindu children are “deprived of their right to learn about their faith” – a right granted to most other faith groups – until the country’s first Hindu school can be built.
The Hindu Council of Australia has asked the federal government for $8.5m in seed funding to launch an independent primary school as soon as 2026 on land in Sydney’s northwest purchased through $5m in community fundraising.
Education Minister Jason Clare is supportive of a new Hindu school in Oakville, telling a Hindu Council of Australia dinner in late October, attended by the Indian Education Minister, that he “personally” thought it was “a fantastic initiative”. He said he was working through the submission with Anthony Albanese and was “so keen to work with (the Hindu community) on seeing this come to life”.
However, the government is yet to commit to funding the project, with Mr Clare’s office telling The Australian on Thursday it was “considering a proposal to support the establishment of a Hindu school in NSW”.
The school is almost 10 years in the making, and part of a vision by the Hindu Council of Australia to build a system of up to 20 Hindu schools in Australia over the next two decades. Its operator, the Hindu Education and Cultural Centre, would follow the model of its Anglican counterpart, delivering about 85 per cent NSW curriculum and 15 per cent core Hindu concepts.
Many expect Hinduism to exceed Islam as the second largest religion in Australia in the 2026 census, with the community expressing an urgent interest in getting the first school up and running. “It is time government provides initial seed funding for this school to start enrolling students in 202,” Hindu Council of Australia vice-president Surinder Jain said.
“The Hindu community is asking a very small amount compared to what has been and is being given to established schools of other faiths. We are hopeful that federal funding to get the school going will create a level playing field for Hindu children.
“Let’s not wait any longer. Every year this school is delayed, thousands of Hindu children are being deprived of their right to learn about their faith, a right everyone else has.”
He said the school would educate children to be “proud Australians immersed in Hindu values”.
“The school will teach children to abide by Australian values of freedoms, fair go, tolerance and dignity of the individual. It will instil in them an admiration for the founders of Australia and dedication to the land whose bounty they are enjoying. It will also teach them Hindu values of pluralism, acceptance of those who are different, yoga and meditation.”
It would also teach some of the more than 20 mainstream Hindu languages and Hindu scripture.
Founding member of the Hindu Education and Cultural Centre Shivakumar Rajagopalan said the Hindu community in Australia, particularly in NSW, was almost equal in numbers to the Muslim community, and yet it did not have a single faith-based school.
A Hare Krishna School in Murwillumbah in the northern rivers region is funded under the Australian Education Act.
Mr Rajagopalan said there was a “huge awareness” within the federal government that “this is needed for the community” which has contributed so much to Australia.
Hindu Council of Australia president Sai Paravastu said he hoped this was the first of many schools for the Hindu community, with equal need in southwest Sydney areas like Liverpool, Leppington and Camden.
“The community has been working on putting up a school for over a decade … We understand the struggle to get the first one up and going, but we want to make it a (bigger) system,” he said.
“We can replicate this model across other states, and use it as a template to set up other schools.”
He said they had faced questions from the community about why it was so difficult to secure government funding. “The community is thinking, we’ve set up everything by our own effort, to get this land, why haven’t they committed the funding … that’s something we have to answer to the community. Why cant we secure this important initiative?”
Chief executive of Faith NSW Murray Norman said the Hindu community had done “an amazing job in Australia” benefiting this country, “and now they say, we want to help our kids”.
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