At an energetic Manhattan press conference, the Sikh Coalition and four other advocacy organizations released a report demonstrating New York City Department of Education's (DOE) shortcomings protecting public school students from bias based harassment and bullying.

The report released by the Sikh Coalition, the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), assesses the DOE's progress in enforcing Chancellor's Regulation A-832 [Student-to-Student Bias-Based Harassment, Intimidation, and/or Bullying], which was issued last September because of the Sikh Coalition and its allies' persistence. Based on a survey of more than 1,100 students and educators in the city's public schools, the report demonstrates that the regulation is not being fully implemented.

The report revealed key issues demonstrating the DOE's inefficacies: 76 percent of students do not know they can report bias-based harassment anonymously by emailing respectforall@schools.nyc.gov; in 90 percent of reported incidents of bias-based harassment to school officials, the school did not properly follow the regulation's protocol for investigation and follow-up; and 80 percent of students have not attended a presentation to discourage harassment.

"We are concerned that the Chancellor's regulation is a promise that is not being fulfilled, a piece of paper that is having little impact on city schools," said Sonny Singh, a Community Organizer for the Sikh Coalition. "While the Regulation was a strong step in the right direction, it is not yet being fully implemented and not yet making a difference for the average Sikh, immigrant or gay student."

Full of energy and passion, dozens of Sikh students from Richmond Hill rode a bus to lower Manhattan to attend the press conference in front of DOE headquarters. Gurnam Singh, an 8th grader, stated at the press conference, "I have experienced harassment from the day I started at M.S. 72 because I'm from a different religion than others…I would love it if the DOE would listen to people like me more often instead of ignoring me."

Amongst speakers from Queens and Brooklyn schools, and organizations such as the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), and Make the Road NY, Sikh youth spontaneously led the crowd in chants like, "What do we want? Safe schools! When do we want them? Now!"