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Hindu wins battle of nose stud in UK
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ASIANAGE on 09 October, 2008 04:10:53
 
BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LONDON
Oct. 9: A Hindu schoolgirl in Britain has won the battle against her school and
has now been allowed to wear a nose stud to school.
Thirteen-year-old Shan-non Connolly, who has a Hindu mother and lives in
Skegness, a seaside town in Lincolnshire, England, was not allowed to wear the
nose stud since last September as it was against the school’s jewellery
policy. Shannon, who joined St. Clement’s College last year, was informed that
students could only wear a watch and earring studs and no facial jewellery,
according to the school’s jewellery policy.
In July, a Sikh teenager won a religious discrimination case in high court
after being excluded from her school in southeast Wales for refusing to take off
her kara, a religious bangle. The 14-year-old teenager of mixed Welsh-Punjabi
origin had been excluded from school over the issue.
The Connollys tried to get the school’s jewellery policy amended as they
consider wearing the nose stud part of their Hindu belief system. "When you have
your nose pierced, the stud goes through a nerve in your nose, which Hindus
believe helps give children and makes childbirth easier," Shannon’s mother
Madhu told the local newspaper, Skegness Standard.
Her father, Brendan, said the school refused to allow Shannon to wear the stud
even after its religious importance was explained. Shannon, who did not wear the
nose stud last year, was quoted as saying : "It’s quite confusing really. I
was told at home it is ok to wear it but when I get to school it’s not ok."
The school reversed its decision recently after discussions with the Racial
Equality Council and Shannon was allowed to wear the nose stud. However, she has
to carry a permission card at school informing teachers she can wear it.