Sarika: ‘Jewellery’ trouble

London, Jan. 4: A school in Wales has become the unwelcome focus of a mounting international protest after it banned Sarika Singh, a 14-year-old Sikh girl, from wearing the kara on the grounds this constituted a piece of jewellery.

Sarika, who insists on wearing the kara as an article of faith, has not been allowed to attend lessons at Aberdare Girls’ School, in Aberdare, south Wales, since November 5.

What began as a relatively small matter of school discipline is now escalating into a major international affair as Sikhs everywhere — plus human rights activists — fight to overturn the ban.

A legal challenge has been filed in the high court on Sarika’s behalf by Liberty, the human rights organisation, which says the school has breached race relations legislation as well as a 25-year-old Law Lords’ decision that allows Sikh pupils to wear items representing their faith, including the turbans.

There is now also a “support Sarika” website as Sikh organisations have taken up her case.

For the moment, the school’s headteacher, Jane Rosser, is sticking to a rigid interpretation of the school rules — though it is clear she has little experience of taking on the Sikhs on a matter of religion.

“We have a strict and clear code of conduct that has been in place for many years,” she said. “A copy of the code of conduct 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.”

She added: “We use this established code of conduct to ensure equality between all pupils. The code clearly states the only two forms of jewellery that girls are allowed to wear in school are a wristwatch and one pair of plain metal stud earrings.”

Some Christians have written to Welsh newspapers defending the ban. They say that when Christian girls are forbidden from wearing the crucifix, there is no reason why Sikh girls should be allowed to wear a bangle.

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. Yet another Christian girl was excluded for wearing a “chastity ring”.

Sarika, who is of Welsh-Indian origin — her full name is Sarika Watkins-Singh — said: “I am very disappointed that my school does not recognise my right to wear the kara. I did not like being put into isolation, which to me was like a prison. I feel my education was suffering.”

Her mother, Sanita, disclosed she and her daughter had a meeting with the school’s board of governors, who ruled in favour of the ban.

She said of the kara: “It’s not jewellery, it’s part of our faith and symbol of our belief. We feel very strongly that Sarika has a right to manifest her religion — she’s not asking for anything big and flashy, she’s not making a big fuss, she just wants a reminder of her religion. Sarika made her first visit to India in 2005, looking at her cultural background and her roots. I don’t believe in putting pressure on children to follow a certain religion, but Sarika decided for herself that she wanted to be a practising Sikh.”

Anna Fairclough, Liberty’s legal officer who is representing Sarika, said: “Sarika Singh has suffered humiliating isolation and is being denied a proper education simply because she wears the kara, a small bangle worn by virtually all Sikhs both in and out of school and work. It is astonishing that the school continues to exclude her despite almost universal condemnation and 25-year-old House of Lords precedent.”