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Sikh students to try hair gel in French schools
Sikh school boys must exchange their turbans for hair nets when a new law banning religious apparel in public schools takes effect in September, France's education minister said Monday, shocking representatives of the Sikh community. Education Minister Francois Fillon spoke after education officials adopted - with some misgivings - a set of guidelines to help school officials apply the law, which was enacted in March after a marathon parliament debate. The law forbids conspicuous religious symbols and attire in the classroom, such as the Jewish skull cap and large Christian crosses, but it is chiefly aimed at the Muslim head scarf. Under the guidelines, Muslim girls can only wear bandannas in schools that allow them, Fillon told a news conference Monday. Asked in an interview about the turbans worn by Sikhs, he said an "arrangement" had been made with Sikhs to replace the traditional head gear with hair nets. We've come up with an arrangement," Fillon told The Associated Press. "They accept wearing a hair net. It's less aggressive, less showy."Representatives of the small Sikh community of 5,000-7,000 said they were unaware of any such arrangement. On the contrary, they said, Sikh representatives had received a letter from a counselor to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, dated May 10, that provided "conditional assurance" that Sikh boys could wear turbans in class. "We were told that we could wear turbans because we never posed a problem," said Karmvir Singh, a Paris member of United Sikhs.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-05-18 |
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