|
Sikh school turns out baptised
girl student who refused to wear skirt
WSN Network
 JALANDHAR: A
nine-year-old baptized Sikh girl who sports turban and belongs to a
deeply religious family was made to undergo humiliating treatment
when she was told to go home unless she agreed to attend school
attired in a skirt instead of salwar kameez that she ordinarily
wore.
Ironically, the
school is named after the ninth Sikh Guru and is run by a Sikh
community educational trust and is affiliated to the CBSE. The
Trust’s secretary is a former SGPC executive member and is currently
a member of the SGPC’s Dharam Parchar Committee. Jaskaranpreet Kaur,
the girl who was asked to switch to skirts, is a class 4 student at
Guru Teg
Bahadur Public School, Hazara which is run by Guru Teg Bahadur
Educational Trust. She had partaken of Amrit only this Vaisakhi at a
local gurdwara and went to school wearing a salwar- kameez the next
day when she was told by the principal to leave the campus for not
being in uniform. The school has since refused to take her back till
she agrees to its sartorial edict. Parents of the girl have sent
petitions to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the
Akal Takht but have elicited little response.
Jaskaranpreet has been
going to this school for five years. Her brother and sister attend
the same school. The girl’s father Surinder Singh, a villager from
Johal Bolina, said that their religious sentiments should be
honoured. Trust Secretary Surjit Singh Cheema, a former SGPC member,
insisted that the girl must stick to the dress code for students – a
shirt and skirt for girls up to class VII – which he said was
clearly stated in the prospectus. The uniform does not violate
‘maryada’. “Amritdhari girls abroad are known to wear jeans and it
does not show contempt of any religious code,” he said, and showed
no sign of relenting.
20
May 2009
|
Read Also