Pictured: A kirpan, traditionally carried by baptised Sikhs
A legal loophole means students in several states are still allowed to bring knives to school, despite horrifying scenes in Sydney where a teenage boy was allegedly stabbed with a Sikh kirpan.
The New South Wales government banned kirpans from schools on Tuesday after a 14-year-old boy allegedly used a ceremonial dagger to stab a 16-year-old male student at Glenwood High School in Sydney's north-west on May 6.
According to the state's education department, the boy was allowed to carry it on school grounds because it was classified as a 'religious weapon' - before the rules were reversed.