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Sikh student's kara issue is no bangle wrangle,
court challenge looms
WSN Network
Not only
hundreds of Canadian Sikhs but also many white Canadians have joined
a strong determined group of about 4,000 people who are backing the
online petitions in support of 14-year-old Sarkia Singh, a Sikh girl
who had filed a legal challenge after being excluded by her school
for wearing a kara.
From being a little and localised issue of school discipline, the
row is now a major international affair as Sikhs everywhere are
being joined by the human rights activists to overturn the ban.
Sarika Singh, who was studying at the Aberdare Girls' School in the
Welsh town of Aberdare was excluded in November due to her kara and
forced to attend lessons in isolation for two months. Sarika has
refused to remove the kara, and claimed it cannot be treated as
jewelry. The school's uniform policy prohibits any jewelry other
than a wristwatch and plain ear studs.
Sarika is of Welsh-Indian origin and her full name is Sarika
Watkins-Singh.
Liberty, the human rights group which has filed the challenge, is
expected to argue the school has breached race relations and human
rights laws, as well as a 25-year-old Law Lords' decision which
allows Sikh children to wear items representing their faith —
including turbans — to school. The group is asking for the school to
amend its uniform policy to comply with Britain's Race Relations
Act. The court will start considering the case mid-January.
For the record, there has been some resistance to Sarika's efforts
and a few Christians have written to Welsh newspapers defending the
ban on kara by claiming that Christian girls were also forbidden
from wearing the crucifix.
The question of what students may or may not wear to school has
become a complex one. In French state schools girls are not allowed
to wear the hijab — but in Britain they are, though the line is
drawn at burqas (though this is permitted in private Muslim
schools). Some schools do not allow their girls to wear the
crucifix, arguing it is not compulsory for Christians.
United Sikhs, an international Sikh advocacy charity, has said it
will also apply to file a third party intervention.
The kara war has also entered cyberspace and the Support Sarika
group on social networking site Facebook has nearly 2,500 members,
from countries as far afield as Canada, Australia, India and the
U.S. Readers desirous of knowing or doing more can visit http://supportsarika.co.uk.
16 January 2008
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