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Sikh teenager goes to court over bangle ban in Wales school

A Sikh girl went to court on Tuesday over her exclusion from a school in Wales for wearing a bangle she says is essential to her faith.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 23:53 June 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: A Sikh girl went to court on Tuesday over her exclusion from a school in Wales for wearing a bangle she says is essential to her faith.

Sarika Singh, 14, said it was discriminatory to exclude her from lessons for wearing the kara, a plain steel bracelet worn around the wrist by many Sikhs.

Through her lawyer she asked High Court judge Stephen Silber to quash the decision of governors at Aberdare Girls' High School to refuse her an exemption.

The school's jewellery rules permit pupils to wear only one pair of plain earstuds and a wristwatch.

Singh's counsel, Helen Mountfield, opening the case, said the school rules broke race and equality laws and breached the girl's human rights.

"At the heart of this case is a vital question about the extent of the protection to be afforded to the rights to cultural expression of members of minority ethnic or religious groups in the school setting, and possibly beyond," Mountfield said.

Singh attended the school between September 2005 and February 2008. In April 2007, a teacher noticed her bangle, and asked her to remove it.

Singh refused and asked for an exemption, saying that wearing the kara on her right wrist was central to her ethnic identity and religious observance.

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