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Did A School In/Near Punjab Prevent A Sikh Student From Wearing Turban?


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ਸਤਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ,

Just recently some one claimed in a discussion that a school in Punjab or near Chandigarh prevented a Sikh student from wearing a turban to school. Does somebody recall this news? I haven't been able to verify this claim, and neither could the person give any citation or reference. He wasn't even able to specify around what time this incident occurred. Until I find a source, I am skeptical regarding this claim.

If somebody knows about a source with details, it would be great if you could list it here.

If nobody has heard about this, it would be fair to conclude that it was part of a speech by some radicals here meant to make people think that educations institutions in and around Punjab are preventing Sikh students from wearing turbans.

ਧੰਨਵਾਦ।

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Well, nobody has replied and my own search has not turned up anything related to this claim. So I supposed it is safe to assume it was a pathetic attempt at a smoke screen by someone.

Let me give a brief background. This remark came up in a discussion in which I was narrating my experience on a visit to Punjab last year. I noticed that in a nagar kirtan that I chanced upon on the highway between Jalandhar and Amritsar, most of the youth (safe to assume most were Sikhs, for obvious reasons) did not have turbans. Since then, I have observed that Punjabi Sikh youth are abandoning turbans (and kesh, of course) at an alarming rate in Punjab. While I was giving these accounts, a person, who is, let us just say, extremely opinionated regarding ਕੱਟਡ਼ ਸਿੱਖੀ (hardcore Sikhi), made the claim in question and wrongly concluded and generalized that schools in India are the ones who are forcing Sikh youth to not wear turbans.

Nevertheless, if somebody does eventually turn up a credible source of the news, please post here. Even if the incident occurred, however, the flaw in the claimant's logic still remains and I would only interested in the legal follow up to the incident.

ਸਰਬੱਤ ਦੀ ਭਲਾ।

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i remember a couple of years back these kids that got beaten severely for speaking punjabi at school. Dont remember any turban issue though

Could you give a news source?

BTW, it is a quite common practice in public schools in the Punjab to force students to speak only English for the sole purpose of making students comfortable with the language and to prepare them for the job market later on.

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we have to verify that from sikh boys studying in DAV chools and variour schools

run by christian organisations

I am not very familiar those schools, only through friends. Please post here what you discover in your inquiries. On a related note, I do recall this, however:

Turban in the schools

Also, I know some friends who were students in christian schools in the Punjab. All speak wonderful Punjabi. The schools did, however, focus on Christian based moral teachings (reading the Bible, celebrating Christmas with vigor, etc.). I also have many friends who have studied in various Sikh public schools. These schools were similar, focused on Sikhi values while teaching morals. Aall students sang shabads in the morning, did Japji paths during Guru Nanak Devji's gurpurab celebrations, learned the protocol of being in presence of and reading the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, yes, including Hindu and Muslim students!

My point in all this discussion is that it appears that there are many propagandists trying to spread the fear of other religions among the Sangat with inflammatory speeches. Usually, if anyone tries to ask for more information or casts any doubts any claims in their arguments, he/she is casts are a non-believer in Sikhi, instead of being given an explanation in a logical and reasonable fashion, you know, like educated people are supposed to! The same thing is happening in other religions. All these brain washing attempts are actually pushing the youth away from the teaching of our Gurus. The fundamental teaching that all religions are to be respected, that all humans are equal, and to work for a better life for everyone is not being taught at all in our gurdwaras now a days. All I see are petty fights, bickering between people of different casts, trying to inflame feeling against people of other religions. These religious nut jobs are not really doing any seva for the Sikhi, they are actually working for its detriment.

I think one of the best ways to counter these kind of situations is to read SGGS ourselves and to learn its teaching by ourselves. There are plenty of resources on the internet to do so. There are numerous learned people to ask for explanations ... they are not obvious because they are not as noisy in gurudwaras.

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Excellent! Thank you.

The references confirm what I have been suspecting all along: A school tries to do something illegal, faces resistance and oppositions, bows to the demands of reason. This is precisely what happened here (the principal apologized, another source). There was a protest and the very next day the school apologized. Problem solved in day, it didn't even need to go to a judicial court in India! Now, if only we could make France do the same :-)

The latter fact, the solution to the problem, was being conveniently missed in the discussion. And that was my beef with this whole thing. A doomsday scenario was portrayed by stating that Sikh youth are being forced to not wear turbans, instead of describing the incident in a factual way.

BTW, even in many Sikh schools in the Punjab, it is a common practice that students wear patkas till the VIII class and turbans thereafter.

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it might be the case at some places that they are forced not to wear one; but majority cases they have shunned hair willingly. also at a tender age its not easy to support a turban and that the reason they wear patka, no one says not to wear a turban when they are young.

Yes, I totally agree. I only wanted to stress that the report also included the facts that the school in question apologized promptly and had a patka as uniform till class X and then a turban in XI and XII, but hindus-did-it sayers conveniently skip those details.

Your other point is also true. Most of the youth in the Punjab have shunned their hair. The usual practice now appears to be to first trim one's beard when it starts to grow, and then to cut the head hair as well as one reaches late teens. Most of this appears to be due to following of western fashion and to appear handsome to girls. And most of the Sikh girls refusing to marry guys with beard and turbans just make it even worse. I think it is safe to say that what Mughals could not do, the modern fashion has done to the Sikhs -- to make them remove their turbans and cut their kesh. Quite a sad state of affairs.

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