Among other things, the justification was that the decision would set a precedent.

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The municipality of Hämeenlinna says it will not pay compensation of 1,500 euros to a non-religious elementary school student who was forced to participate in a religious activity.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Education and Welfare Committee on Tuesday, overriding an earlier decision by the acting director of education, Antti Karrimaa.

A mother has complained, claiming a city school has circumvented rules on religious activities by not properly communicating the nature of the event her child attended.

In early November, Karrimaa had decided that the city would to pay compensation to the studentalthough he maintained that he did not believe the school deliberately misled parents.

However, the commission exercised its right to revoke the decision.

In doing so, the commission said the main reason was that it did not want to set a precedent for the future.

The commission also challenged the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal’s recommendation to pay compensation, saying the amount of compensation and the obligation to pay it were not at all clear.

The board ruled that the city should compensate the elementary school student who had been forced to participate in religious activities against his personal beliefs.

In Tuesday’s meeting, the Education and Welfare Committee first decided whether it had the right to overturn the compensation decision and only then decided to actually overturn it. Both decisions were made by a close vote, 6-5.

Committee members who disagreed with the decision left a dissenting opinion on the decision.