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School that barred Karra-wearing
Sikh girl to pay
through its nose
WSN Bureau
 LONDON:
A school's inane
decision to bar a Sikh girl because she insisted on keeping her
religious symbol 'Karra' on, has cost the tax payers over £76,000,
and an MP is outraged at the school governor’s decision to allow
this to happen. Sarika Watkins-Singh, now 15, was suspended from
Aberdare Girls’ School after insisting she should be allowed to wear
her Kara,
one of the five
symbols of Sikh identity. The school argued she could not wear the
bracelet because it contravened a ban on jewellery. With the help of
the human rights group
Liberty,
Sarika challenged the school’s decision and won a judicial review
case in the High Court.
Now, following a
Freedom of Information request by local Labour MP Ann Clwyd, it has
emerged that the school’s legal fees came to £76,699.40. Having lost
the case, the school will also have to pay Liberty’s legal costs,
which are understood to be on top of that amount – and could bring
the cost to the school to thousands more pounds.
Ms Clwyd said: "I
am very concerned about the waste of taxpayers’ money on a case
which I and others told the governors they would lose. I knew from
speaking to fellow Labour MPs representing areas like Wolverhampton,
where there is a large Sikh population, that Sikhs are a protected
minority under the Race Relations Act.
There is an
important case dating from 1983 that went to the House of Lords and
confirmed Sikhs’ rights. "I am afraid that I have not found the
school at all co-operative in dealing with inquiries I have made
about this matter. I do not know which budget the legal fees will be
paid from."
A spokeswoman
for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, the local education authority, said:
"This is a matter entirely for the school, which is responsible for
its own budget."
19 November
2008
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