Today's decision in the High Court has given a 14 year old Sikh girl the right to wear a religious bangle in school. The judge found the girl’s school to be guilty of indirect discrimination as well as breaching race relations and equality laws. The judge further rejected claims made by the school that the bangle could be seen as a ‘symbol of affluence’ stating:
"In this case there is very clear evidence it was not a piece of jewellery but to Sarika was, and remains, one of the defining focal symbols of being a Sikh."
Sarika Singh, from South Wales, was excluded by Aberdare Girl’s School for refusing to remove her bangle in November 2007. The School’s policy banned any girls from wearing any jewellery other than a wristwatch and plain ear studs.
Sarika says the Kara bangle is an important religious aspect of her Sikh faith.
At the time Liberty, a human rights lobby and campaign organisation, stated that the school has breached a previous 25-year-old law lords' decision which had already allowed Sikh children to wear religious Sikh symbols, such as turbans, in school.
However, Martin Ward, the deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, is disappointed with the decision and said:
"The school had offered the student reasonable alternatives to accommodate her religious beliefs, such as wearing the bangle but not so that it was on display … [and] the purpose of school uniform is to create a community ethos and no individual pupils should be able to go their own way.”
In February last year the MCB published their guidelines for British schools with Muslim pupils: it seemed to envisage a world of pupils declining dance, PE, music and drama lessons, taking prayer breaks, boy pupils growing beards, no parental meetings during Ramadan and goodness knows what else. I hope this ruling will not help them in their aim of what seems to be Islamising UK schools, in any way.