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Kara Row:
Welsh school again excludes Sikh girl
London: The Sikh girl at the centre of a controversy over the
wearing of a kara at a Welsh school was excluded once again today
when she turned up with her mother and two officials from a local
race equality council.
Sarika Singh (14) went to the Aberdare Girls School in Wales for a
meeting, along with her mother Sinita Singh and two officials of the
Valleys Race Equality Council. However, the student was once again
excluded from the school on the ground that wearing the karha broke
its code of conduct.
Her family has now decided to go in for a judicial review of the
rules.
School governors rejected Sarika’s request to allow her to wear the
karha after conducting a significant period of research, examining
the uniform policy and human rights legislation in detail.
Jane Rosser, the school’s head teacher, said the school’s strict
code of conduct had been in place for many years and had been
established to ensure equality. It bans the wearing of all jewellery
with the sole exception of plain metal ear studs and a wrist watch.
Sarika came into conflict with the code of conduct six months ago
after the school governors ruled she should not wear the karha. The
family argued that it was an important symbol of Sikhism and should
not be treated as jewellery.
Her mother said: “I can tell you now that we cannot even consider
taking the karha off. There is no chance. That simply will not
happen. She has suffered, her family has suffered and her education
has suffered as a result of this. We want to know what the grounds
were for placing Sarika in isolation, where she was not allowed even
to speak to other pupils. She was treated like a leper, as if she
had some kind of disease. Who knows what the long-term effect on her
will be?”
Council director Ron Davies said: “We are supporting Sarika and
believe the school is acting unlawfully by refusing to let her wear
it. We have arranged for her to be represented by a solicitor and an
application will be made to the high court for a judicial review of
the school’s decision. We believe the school is acting in
contravention, both of the 1976 Race Relations Act and human rights
legislation. We also believe there is a need for guidance to be more
explicit on these issues to schools from the Welsh Assembly
Government.”
In a legal precedent dating back to 1983, the House of Lords had
decided that a school had acted unlawfully by refusing to accept a
Sikh boy who wore a turban as pupil. The judgement held that Sikhs
were a racial group within the terms of the Race Relations Act.
Head teacher Rosser said: “We have a strict and clear code of
conduct that has been in place for many years. A copy is given to
all girls before they are even a pupil at the school and is also
issued at the start of every new term in September. We use this
established code of conduct to ensure equality between all pupils.”
14
November, 2007
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