E-Paper
Banning Sikh children from wearing kirpan in Oz schools unfortunate: SGPC
Ban imposed following an incident at a Sydney school when a 14-year-old Sikh boy injured another student with kirpan
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday said the decision of imposing ban on wearing ‘kirpan’ by Sikh children in public schools in Australia’s New South Wales state was unfortunate as it is against religious freedom.
In a press statement, SGPC president Jagir Kaur said the ban will come into effect from Wednesday (May 19). “The ban was imposed following an incident at a Sydney school on May 6 when a 14-year-old Sikh student who was bullied injured another student with his kirpan. The government there should have taken proper advice from the representative bodies of the Sikh community before deciding to imposing ban. It is one of the five symbols of Sikhism,” she said.
She said it is believed that the education minister had an online meeting with two members of the Sikh community when she informed them about the ban. However, no discussion was held with the Sikh community before the decision was taken, she added.
“The decision has deeply hurt the sentiments of Sikhs at home and abroad and is being widely opposed. Kirpan is worn in schools all over the world without any incident and the Sikh community needs to be cautious while taking lessons from the latest school incident in New South Wales,” the gurdwara body chief added.
“The SGPC urges the Indian government and the Indian ambassador to Australia to take up the matter with the Australian authorities and make efforts for revoking this decision. We will soon write to the governments of India and Australia in this regard,” she said.
