Paris, September 7
France’s small Sikh community is in an uproar after five of its boys were refused entry to state schools under a new law barring pupils from wearing conspicuous religious symbols in class.Sikh community leaders were negotiating with school officials today trying to convince them the ban, aimed mostly at Muslim headscarves, did not rule out Sikh boys wearing a small cloth to cover their uncut hair.
Sikh leaders say the law does not apply to them because their turbans and “patkas” — tight cloth headcovers Sikhs wear under their turbans — are practical hair coverings rather than religious symbols. Only their uncut hair was a religious symbol, they argued.
The Sikhs, who number about 5,000 living mostly in the Paris region, say national education authorities agreed to this last spring but some schools were strictly applying the ban to all. Unlike other minorities, Sikhs were not consulted before the law was passed.
“The teachers wouldn’t let them into class,” community spokesman Chain Singh told Reuters. “They don’t understand.” —
Reuters
