Hindus pull out wards from school after turban row

Nearly 100 Hindu students of Akal Academy in Cheema town are withdrawn by their parents after the school authorities force students to attend school wearing turbans.

Many Hindu families in a Punjab town withdrew their children from a Sikh institution after the school authorities forced students to attend school wearing turbans.

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Nearly 100 Hindu students of Akal Academy in Cheema town were withdrawn by their parents Friday after the school authorities refused to budge from their stand to make it compulsory for all non-Sikh students from class VI onwards to wear turbans while attending school.

Wearing of turbans is compulsory in Sikh religion but the same has never been forced on students from other religions.

A stand-off had been going on between the school authorities and the parents after the new rule was imposed earlier this week. The Hindu Sabha has objected to the move by the school.

School official R S Chatwal maintained that Akal Academies elsewhere had no problem with Hindu students complying with the turban rule.

"We will not change our rule for a few vested interests in Cheema town," he said.

The parents Friday gave a common list of nearly 100 students to the school management who were being withdrawn. "The school management has asked us to submit individual requests for withdrawal," one parent said.

Of over 1,200 students in the school, more than 250 are Hindus and of these about 100 are from Cheema town.