A day after MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that five Sikh students, who had gone to take the Class X board exam, were asked to remove their “kada” and “kirpan”, the school said the matter was resolved within 5-10 minutes, and the students took their exam.
Secretary of the society that runs Tagore International School Vasant Vihar, Deepak Kumar, said it was the school’s duty to ensure the “safety and security” aspect.
5 Sikh students of GHPS appearing for 12th Board exams, were denied entry into Tagore International School because of Kakaars.
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) March 12, 2018
The Principal later allowed them entry and even apologised but such incidents reflect lack of respect and awareness towards Sikh religious symbols https://t.co/yN0kr9BqGE
I urge Hon’ble @LtGovDelhi to take cognisance and issue necessary instructions to schools for no further harassment of Sikh students wearing Kada/Kirpan as these 5 kakaars are religious symbols of Sikhs.
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) March 12, 2018
Board exams are going on and such incidents create pressure on students pic.twitter.com/YwgJBztk6s
“As we felt that it was not right, we spoke with the authorities of the school from where the children were from. They said it was a part of the natural system and that they forgot to inform us earlier. They said they would take responsibility and subsequently, within 5-10 minutes, the children were allowed to write the exam,” said Kumar. The children were from Guru Harkishan Public School.
I had done my best to catch attention of @ArvindKejriwal towards spreading awareness about 5 Kakaars when Sikh students were harassed during DSSSB exams. Today again, similar things happened.
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) March 12, 2018
Looks like Kejriwal is not bothered about Sikhs problems after losing Punjab elections pic.twitter.com/nKVLuIg6b4
Sirsa said that the act showed lack of respect and awareness of Sikh religious symbols and demanded action from Lt Governor Anil Baijal. According to Kumar, the situation arose since there is no clarity from the CBSE.
“The actual problem is that there is no clarity on behalf of CBSE on the rules,” said Kumar. The CBSE said it has not received any complaint on the matter.
I condemn CM @ArvindKejriwal & Tagore international school, Vasant vihar who denied entry to a Sikh boy because he was wearing kakkars. The incident happened today with a Sikh boy appearing for class XII board exams.@DSGMCofficial will take legal action against the school
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) March 12, 2018
