London : Two minor Sikh girls in the UK were ordered to remove their turbans by teachers who mistook the traditional religious headdress as ‘fashion’ items, prompting their families to protest.
Simranjot Kaur, 13, and 11-year-old Prasimran Kaur, who are not related, study at St Anne’s Catholic School in Southampton, Hampshire, were asked to remove their traditional religious headwear by headteacher Lyn Bourne.
Newly enrolled year seven student Prasimran was told to take it off shortly after walking into school, while Simranjot said a teacher spotted her outside the gates before lessons and asked her to remove her turban. Both of the girls, who are baptised Khalsa Sikhs and take the mandatory female surname Kaur, refused to remove the headwear which can be worn by both sexes in their religion.
They claim the school suggested they were wearing them for ‘fashion’ and that they should be replaced by headscarves usually worn by Muslim women, The Mirror reported.”I was forced to take my turban off after staff began unravelling it,” said Simranjot, something which Sikhs regard as highly disrespectful. “It’s discriminatory. They are a Catholic school and are supposed to support equality. There was a total lack of understanding. We need to change the school’s policy,” saidPrasimran’s sister Jaskiran, a former pupil.
