Scottish nursery allegedly 'rejects' minister's child over ethnic name

• The minister's daughter was rejected because there was "no space". 
• "We will not accept our children being discriminated against," stated Hamza Yousaf and Nadia El-Nakla. 
• Nursery refutes the claim, says: "our owners are Asians themselves." 

Scotlands's Health Secretary Hamza Yousaf has begun legal proceedings against a local nursery that allegedly rejected his daughter because of her ethnic name, reported Metro on Tuesday. 

Yousaf and his wife had applied to admit their two-year-old daughter, Amal, at Little Scholars Day Nursery in Broughty Ferry, however, their application was turned down with the nursery claiming there was "no space."

Two days later, a white friend of the couple informed them that their son was accepted for three afternoons each week. 

To investigate more, the Daily Record submitted two fake queries to the nursery, one from a Muslim family and the other from a white family.  

The queries generated the same results with the white family being accepted while the Muslim family being turned down. 

On this, Yousaf and Ms El-Nakla reported the nursery to the Care Inspectorate. They have also instructed a solicitor to initiate legal proceedings against the nursery for discrimination on the grounds of race and religion. 

The Nursery has rejected claims made against it by the minister and stated that it did not discriminate against Yousaf's daughter. 

'We want our children to be treated equally'

The solicitor, on behalf of the couple, stated: "Despite being given ample opportunity, Little Scholars Day Nursery in Broughty Ferry has failed to admit, explain, or apologise for their discriminatory behaviour." 

Highlighting the issue of discrimination, they added that they have often been targets of vile abuse. 

The statement reported that both of them have stood against discrimination their whole lives and they will not accept their children being discriminated against. 

"Like any other parents, we simply want our children to be treated equally, regardless of their colour of skin or religion," the statement concluded. 

Yousaf and his wife further stated that they believe in the Justice System of Scotland. 

Legal proceedings 

Yousaf's solicitor has provided the nursery two weeks to issue a public apology and pay compensation to "an anti-racist charity of our client’s choosing" or prepare to face legal action.

The solicitor also served papers on the nursery and its company director to initiate a claim in respect of a breach of the Equality Act 2010. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also been called on to investigate the matter. 

The nursery's response

In response to the allegation, the nursery's spokesperson stated: "Our nursery is extremely proud of being open and inclusive to all and any claim to the contrary is demonstrably false and an accusation that we would refute in the strongest possible terms." 

The nursery went on to add that the owners are themselves Asian and have always welcomed children and staff from different religious, cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds.

The nursery highlighted that two Muslim families are included in their institute presently. 

The nursery further stated that they have even accommodated different lifestyles, citing the presence of a 'halal' menu for their Muslim families.