BENGALURU ,February 23, 2022 : In India , the Karnataka students, especially those studying in Class 10 and Class 12, who are being barred from entering the schools and colleges for wearing head scarp/ Hijab, are likely to miss their annual exams. As per the Karnataka High Court’s interim order, students are not allowed to wear hijab inside the classrooms. The annual examinations for SSLC (Class 10) and second PUC (Class 12) are scheduled to be held in April. The authorities have started issuing hall tickets to the students. However, some protesting students are refusing to collect their hall tickets. The education department, according to high level sources, has decided not to allow the students to appear in supplementary exams, which will be held for those who fail in the exams and opt for re-examination. The authorities in Vijayanagara district have continued the prohibitory orders for around 250 pre-university (PU) and 80 graduation colleges. Many students have boycotted the exams insisting to appear in the exams wearing hijab.
As many as 1.25 lakh students, belonging to minority communities, study in PU colleges across the state. Among them, about 84,000 are girl students. The number of head scarp/ hijab wearing students is close to 1,000 and as the examinations are approaching, their numbers are also decreasing, sources said. IANS
Karnataka students, especially those studying in Class 10 and Class 12, who are not ready to appear in exams without hijab are likely to miss their annual exams.
After six Muslim students were denied entry into their classroom for wearing head scarp/hijabs at the Government Women’s PU College in Karnataka’s Udupi in December last year, many similar incidents have cropped up in educational institutes, first in the state and now across the India.
Fatima*, a Class 6 student at the Senior Secondary Girl’s school in Tukhmirpur, was refused entry into her classroom as offline classes resumed this week. In a video that has been making the rounds on social media, the student can be seen explaining what transpired in the classroom, describing how she was pulled out of class and asked to remove the head scarp/ hijab.
Speaking to The Wire, Fatima’s father Mohammed Ayyub said, “On February 21, my ten-year-old daughter had gone to attend her class. On entering her classroom, her friends, who are also Muslim, told her to remove the hijab as the teacher had asked them to do so.” Fatima was a also taunted by the teacher in front of her classmates.
Ayyub said that when he reached out to the school later seeking answers, he was told that asking students to remove their head scarp/ hijabs was, in fact, in line with a supposed policy of the Delhi government.
“The principal first told me that the Delhi government wants all students to dress uniformly and that she was just following orders. When I asked her to say that on camera or show a legal notice on the same, four teachers who were in the room snatched my phone and heckled me, with the principal watching. They were all women, so I could not do anything,” Ayyub said.
He added that the principal later back-tracked on her statement and said that while there is no formal order, she cannot allow some students to “look different” from other girls in the school.
Ayyub further said, “They are creating a Karnataka-like environment here. I even told the teacher that this is not Karnataka, but she did not listen.” For now, Ayyub said that the principal has “forced him to accept that his daughter will not wear a head scarp/ hijab inside the class” and that she will not be allowed to enter the class next time.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, the Dharma Samaj College banned the entry of students wearing head scarp/ hijabs or any clothing other than the “prescribed uniform,” according to a report by the Times of India.