At the centre of this year’s Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination is the hijab row, following the Education Department’s circular two days before the exam directing all students to wear only prescribed uniforms to exams. Though most students across the State complied with the guidelines, one student refused to remove the garment and did not appear for the examination at Ilkal in Bagalkot district.
The student in Ilkal was dropped off at the government high school, which was an examination centre, by her brother. When the authorities asked her to remove the headscarf, she refused and her brother reportedly argued on her behalf with the teachers. When the staff refused to budge, the student went back home with her brother.
Across the State, in many centres, special rooms had been allotted for students to remove their hijab before entering the examination halls. Students removed the hijab where it is not a part of the school’s uniform. However, in the case of schools where hijab is a part of the uniform, students appeared for the examination wearing the garment.
Commenting on the issue, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education B.C. Nagesh said students must adhere to guidelines issued by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) and orders of the Government and the High Court of Karnataka.
He said the Government, decades ago, had introduced uniforms in schools to inculcate discipline and qualities of equality and unity among students. The same has been upheld by the high court. The demand by certain organisations and persons to relax the uniform norms is meaningless, he said.
The exams went about smoothly in Udupi district, which is the epicentre of the hijab controversy. Deputy Commissioners of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, K.V. Rajendra and M. Kurma Rao, respectively, issued a circular on Sunday reiterating that students from government schools should come to the examination centre in the dress prescribed by the school.
Dr. Rajendra had further stated that the list of schools, which has hijab as part of the uniform, should be made available by the respective Block Education Officer to the concerned examination centre, which should facilitate students to write with hijab. Accordingly, Muslim girls from aided and unaided schools, which have hijab as part of the uniform, were allowed to write examination with hijab at the Karnataka Public School in Montepadavu in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada.
“Hijab has been part of the uniform for over several years. There was no problem for our students to write the examination with hijab all these years,” said Shameena, teacher of Al Madeena School in Dakshina Kannada. A total of 91 students from this school wrote the examination at Montepadavu centre.
‘Important to secure future’
“It is important to secure future of my daughter. Though it’s a difficult choice, but I instructed my daughter to follow the norm and write the paper,” said autorickshaw driver Ibrahim Kasil, who drove his younger daughter Shabnam all the way from Farangipet to the Vidyarathna School. Mr. Kasil said religious leaders have instructed against missing SSLC examination on the ground of hijab.
In Bengaluru, over the past month, Shabanu has not been wearing the hijab inside her school in T. Dasarahalli. Her mother Sadiqa Begum, who was waiting for her to come out of the government high school examination centre, said that she had instructed her to remove the hijab on reaching the school. “For us, hijab and education are just as important. My daughter wears the hijab while going to school from home, but removes it before entering it,” she said.
