Shocking stats show bullying of Sikh students left unaddressed

The extraordinarily large number of instances of Sikh students being bullied is continuing to go unaddressed around the world, as several instances have highlighted.

A survey of Sikh students in the USA revealed that more than 50 per cent reported being bullied in school, which is more than double the national average.

The findings were shared in a 2013 report entitled Turban Myths, which also revealed that 49 per cent of Americans believed that “Sikh” is a sect of Islam. Furthermore, one in five respondents said that when they saw a stranger wearing a turban it made them feel “angry” or “apprehensive”, and when shown a photograph of a Sikh man, about 70 per cent of respondents could not correctly identify his religion.

The report was published by the Stanford University Peace Innovation Lab and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, following the 2012 massacre at a Gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which seven Sikhs were shot dead in a race hate crime.

The shocking findings prompted the Sikh community in the USA to launch the National Sikh Campaign in 2014, which aims to promote a better understanding of the Sikh community in America and other Western countries, and to project a positive image and profile of the Sikh community.

However, despite their efforts awareness of Sikhs still remains lacking, and the bullying of Sikh schoolchildren continues to persist.

In the UK, a video of a Sikh boy in Telford, Shropshire, being viciously assaulted by two white students was also filmed and shared widely on social media earlier this month.

The students all attended Charlton School, and while the attack happened off-premises, the school vowed to work with West Mercia Police to ensure justice is administered and further similar attacks are prevented. West Mercia Police later announced that the two perpetrators will not face criminal sanctions.

In 1996, 13 year old Sikh student Vijay Singh committed suicide by hanging himself after persistently being bullied by other students at Stretford High School in Manchester. Since then, the situation facing Sikh students has not improved. In fact, last month, data from the UK Home Office revealed that hate crimes reported against Sikhs have risen by 70 per cent in the past two years. A total of 202 hate crimes were recorded against Sikhs in 2019, compared with 117 in 2017, and many of these crimes continue to go unpunished.

“Sikhs are a visible minority that stand for righteousness and compassion, but due to apathetic attitudes towards the harassment of Sikhs from schools, media and law enforcement, Sikh students often face more hatred than others from their peers,” said a spokesperson from Sikh educational group Basics of Sikhi.

“Several Sikh schools have been established in the UK, and these provide a safe haven for Sikh schoolchildren from religiously-targeted bullying, but the wider community must drop their nonchalant attitudes towards the bullying suffered by children from the Sikh community and take a firmer approach to ensure accountability and justice.”