Anushka Pathak – Mumbai Uncensored, 7th February 2022
In December last year, some girl students started coming to a government school in Udupi district wearing Hijab, against the prescribed uniform norm.
In protest against the violation of the dress code, a section of Hindu students also started coming to classes wearing saffron shawls.
Even before the matter could be resolved, the hijab-saffron shawl controversy spread to more pre-university colleges in the state. The issue took a political turn with the political parties in the state indulging in mudslinging.
Government PU College, Kundapura has now allowed entry to students wearing hijab inside the campus on Monday. Although, they will be seated in separate classrooms. The development committee of Kundapura Government PU college has decided to make a separate classroom for Muslim girls who have been demanding that they must be allowed to wear hijab inside the campus.
The Karnataka government has obliged to make uniforms mandatory for students attending classes in educational institutions. In case a uniform is not prescribed by management committees, it has been ordered that students should wear dresses that go well with the idea of equality and unity, and does not disturb the social order.
Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh on Sunday said that the students who are unwilling to adhere to the uniform dress code are at liberty to explore other options.
Nagesh told the reporters in Mysuru, “just as rules are followed in the military, the same is to be done here (in educational institutions) as well. Options are open for those who are not willing to follow it, which they can make use of.”
The minister had appealed to the students to not become tools in the hands of political parties.
The Bommai government on Saturday had issued a circular banning clothes which disturbed peace, harmony and law and order in the educational institutions across the state.
Nagesh said the government felt the need to clarify this matter and issued a circular. He also clarified that the students can come to the school wearing Hijab, but inside the campus, they have to place them in their bags.
He said, wondering why the problem emerged all of a sudden when students of all the faiths were coming to schools wearing uniforms, everyone was learning and playing together with a sense of equality but never ever had religious differences cropped up.
According to Nagesh, trouble began in December when some children in Udupi were provoked to wear Hijab saying ‘Sharia’ (Islamic law) asks for such a dress code and they were duty-bound to abide by it. The minister further said that many children were asked to do so but a majority of them did not agree to it.
“In Udupi school where the incident occurred, out of the 92 Muslim children, only six girls came wearing Hijab, other children came to the school wearing their school uniform,” he said.
Rejecting the Congress party’s accusations that the BJP government does not want Muslim students to continue their studies, Nagesh pointed out that the Karnataka Education Act was not brought by the BJP but Congress. The minister also urged the party not to create divisions in the society for political gains.
In Kalaburagi district headquarters town, Muslim girls led by the Congress MLA Kaneez Fathima staged a protest on Saturday demanding permission to allow female students in the schools and pre-university colleges to wear Hijab.
While Congress backed the Muslim girls citing constitutional rights guaranteed, the BJP stood against wearing of ‘Hijab’ in classes with its state president saying the state government will not allow Talibanisation of the education system.
The Karnataka High Court will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-university College in Udupi on February 8, questioning the hijab restriction in college.
