Singapore suspends third schoolgirl

Singapore suspends third schoolgirl

SINGAPORE: Stressing social cohesion after the recent detention of 13 terror suspects, Singapore stuck to its hard line against headscarf-wearing Muslim schoolgirls on Monday by suspending a third child from class.

Six-year-old Khairah Faroukh flouted a deadline to comply with school rules barring headscarves, or tudung, and other non- standard clothing. She left school minutes after entering the compound holding her father's hand.

Two other Muslim girls were suspended on Feb. 4 for wearing headscarves to class.

Khairah, clad in a blue pinafore and chest-length white tudung, was given an extra week to comply with the dress code as she began wearing a headscarf two weeks into the school year.

For devout Malay Muslims, the tudung is obligatory once girls reach puberty but some parents have them wear it earlier. Nearly all of the 450,000 Malays in largely Chinese Singapore are Muslim, making Islam the second-largest religion after Buddhism. --Reuters