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UK School Bans Kirpan Forcing
Sikh Out of School
LONDON: After
two years of negotiating with his school, a 14-year-old Sikh boy was
told by his North London school that he would no longer be allowed
to wear his Kirpan that he had been wearing for two years, because
it posed a health and safety risk.
On the first day
of school last month, he attempted to attend classes at The Compton
School, but was escorted out after he told his teachers that he was
wearing his Kirpan, which is a sheathed scimitar, one of the five
kakaar (articles of faith), as an initiated Sikh, he must wear at
all times.
An award winning
student who is starting his crucial GCSE year, J Singh (who is a
minor, hence not named) had been out of school for 4 when he
obtained admission in a private school after his family took a loan
to pay his £6,000- a- year fees.
After J Singh
was turned away from The Compton School, the Barnet Council's
Director of Children's Services, Robert McCulloch-Graham and the
Council's legal advisor, Lanna Childs, met United Sikhs legal
director, Mejindarpal Kaur and J Singh's family. Lanna Childs
insisted that J Singh was not 'excluded' from school as he could
return if he removed his Kirpan. Mr Mc Culloch said that since J
Singh was not excluded there was no duty for the Council to find him
an alternative school, even though he was of compulsory education
age.
"Why is a Sikh
student being asked to choose between his education and his faith?"
Mejindarpal Kaur asked Mr. McCulloch, to which he replied, that the
school governors had agreed that J Singh could wear a two inch
'kirpan' from tip of handle to blade, which is welded shut in its
sheath.
"We had informed
the school that the two-inch alternative is a replica and not a
Kirpan, hence not acceptable to J Singh or the community,"
Mejindarpal Kaur informed Mc Culloch.
United Sikhs
also obtained legal advice from Helen Mountfield, a senior barrister
who had represented Sarika Singh in her Kara case last year. The
forum has now reached out to Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for
Children, Schools and Families and also sought assistance from the
chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Sikhs, Rob
Marris MP and chair for APPG for Punjabis John Mcdonnell MP. Both
also wrote to Ed Balls MP.
Diana Johnson,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, stated that the
non-statutory guidance to schools on the wearing of Kirpan explains
that schools should be fully aware of the religious observances of
Sikhs and the need to deal with this issue sensitively, but also
added that if challenged, it would ultimately be for the courts to
decide if the school is justified in restricting the wearing of the
Kirpan in this case.
Sikhs have a
statutory exemption under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 that allows
them to wear a Kirpan in public, including at schools.
14
October 2009
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