Canadians Join Welsh Bangle Wrangle

January 10, 2008

Author: Sarika Singh

Source: The South Asian Post

http://www.southasianpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441765b07f011765bbc3840001_Canadians_join_Welsh_bangle_wrangle.do.html

Hundreds of Canadian Sikhs are among nearly 4,000 people who have joined online petitions in support of a 14-year-old Sikh girl who has filed a legal challenge after being excluded by her school for wearing a kara.

What began as a relatively small matter of school discipline is now escalating into a major international affair as Sikhs everywhere — plus human rights activists — fight to overturn the ban.

Sarika Singh, a pupil at the Aberdare Girls’ School in the Welsh town of Aberdare, has been excluded since Nov. 5 and was forced to attend lessons in isolation for two months after the staff at the school first noticed her wearing the kara, or bangle.