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Sikhs are required by their religion let to wear turbans
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PARIS,
November 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Three Sikh students
have been expelled from the Elysee Louise Michel in Bobigny,
north-east of Paris, in the first such case since the endorsement of a
law banning religious insignia in French state schools.
The
students, aged 14, 17 and 18, had been at the center of a months-long
debate in France over the controversial law, which has caused outrage
among many including the Sikh and Muslim communities, reported Agence
France Presse (AFP).
"I
have the feeling that the decision had already been taken," Felix
de Belloy, the boys' lawyer, reporters outside the school following
the disciplinary committee's decision.
He
vowed to appeal the expulsion to the school principal in Bobigny
northeast of Paris, though the decision takes effect immediately.
In
a compromise, the boys had been wearing a so-called keski, or
under-turban, a smaller version of the full-sized Sikh turban worn by
adult males.
In
most French schools, Sikh boys have reached a compromise with
authorities that the under-turban does not violate the new law.
France
triggered a controversy by adopting
a bill banning hijab
and religious insignia in public schools that went effective mid
September.
The
US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French move as “discriminatory”.
Former
French Interior and incumbent Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has
long opposed the law, warning it would provoke a backlash among
Muslims, who would view it as an "insult
and punishment" .
Segregated
With
the beginning of the school year, the three students found themselves
segregated in another room, taking their classes separately from the
other students.
"We've
been stuck in the cafeteria with photocopies of the course work since
September," Ranjit Singh, one of the three boys told AFP.
"We've
fallen significantly behind with our school work, and want to remain
in the public educational system," he added.
Sikh
males are required by their religion to allow their hair to grow, and
most wear a turban to keep the growth under control.
On
Tuesday, October 19, Dounia and Khouloude, aged 12 and 13, both in seventh
grade , were expelled from the Jean Mace school in the eastern
French city of Mulhouse for refusal to take off their hijab.
Earlier
in October, a French Muslim schoolgirl shaved
her head in protest at the hijab ban.
Cennet
Doganay, 15, took off her hijab as she was entering the Louis Pasteur
Lycee high school in Strasbourg, eastern France, only to reveal a bald
head.
In
September, two Muslim sisters were
expelled from Henri Wallon Lycee school in the Paris
northern suburb of Aubervilliers for wearing hijab.
Islam
sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious
symbol displaying one’s affiliations - unlike the symbolic Christian
crucifixes or Jewish Kappas.
