London: The Sikh girl at the centre of a controversy over wearing a kada at a Welsh school was excluded once again Tuesday morning when she turned up with her mother and two officials from a local race equality council.
Sarika Singh, 14, went to the Aberdare Girls School in Wales for a meeting along with her mother, Sinita Singh, and two officials of the Valleys Race Equality Council. However, the student was once again excluded from the school on the ground that wearing the kada broke its code of conduct.
Her family has now decided to go in for a judicial review of the rules. School governors rejected Sarika's request to allow her to wear the kada after conducting a "significant period of research", examining the uniform policy and human rights legislation in detail.
Jane Rosser, the schools' head teacher, said that the school's strict code of conduct had been in place for many years and had been established to ensure equality. It bans the wearing of all jewellery with the sole exception of plain metal ear studs and a wristwatch.
Sarika came into conflict with the code of conduct six months ago after the school governors ruled she should not wear the kada. The family argue the kada is an important symbol of Sikhism and should not be treated as jewellery.
Her mother, Sinita, said: "I can tell you now that we cannot even consider taking the kada off. There is no chance. Full stop. That simply will not happen. She has suffered, her family has suffered and her education has suffered as a result of this.
"We want to know what the grounds were for placing Sarika in isolation where she was not allowed even to speak to other pupils. She was treated like a leper, as if she had some kind of disease. Who knows what the long-term effect on her will be?"
Valleys Race Equality Council director Ron Davies said: "We are supporting Sarika, and believe the school is acting unlawfully by refusing to let her wear the bangle. We have arranged for her to be represented by a solicitor and an application will be made to the high court for a judicial review of the school's decision.
"We believe the school is acting in contravention both of the 1976 Race Relations Act and of human rights legislation. We also believe there is a need for the guidance on these issues to schools from the Welsh Assembly Government to be more explicit."
In a legal precedent dating to 1983, the House of Lords had decided that a school had acted unlawfully by refusing to accept as a pupil a Sikh boy who wore a turban. The judgement held that Sikhs were a racial group within the terms of the Race Relations Act, and were capable of being discriminated against.
Head teacher Rosser said: "We have a strict and clear code of conduct that has been in place for many years. A copy 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.
"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 is a wrist watch and one pair of plain metal stud earrings."
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