Degree and Pre university colleges reopened in Mysuru on Wednesday amidst police security, but a few students returned home when the college authorities did not allow hijab in classrooms.
Deputy Director of Pre-University Education (DDPUE) Srinivas Murthy told The Hindu that a few students in some PU colleges returned home when hijab was not allowed in the classrooms. “But, everything was smooth. There was no trouble anywhere in the district”, he said.
Though attendance was good in most of the colleges, he said the newly opened Government PU College at Rajiv Nagar in Mysuru saw only 14 students attending classes. In several colleges including St. Philomena’s College in Bannimantap, many students came with hijab, but they removed them before entering the classes. However, a handful of students returned home preferring to wait for the High Court order.
M.r Srinivas Murthy said no untoward incident had been reported from any of the 257 colleges in the district out of which all had uniforms except 15 colleges. The police had deployed security around colleges and the district administration had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 in a radius of 200 metres from the schools and colleges.
While uniform had not been prescribed for the degree classes, the High Court order on the issue of uniforms was being implemented in all the PU colleges in the district.
The DDPUE said the Principals of all colleges in the district had been informed about the High Court order and appealed to the parents to cooperate with the college administration to implement the orders.
Principal of St. Philomena’s College Sunil D’ Souza told reporters that no student sat in the classroom wearing hijab. The college has a mandatory uniform policy and less than 5 per cent of the students come to college wearing hijab. “But, they removed the hijab in a separate room that has been aside for the purpose before entering their respective classes,” he said.
He said the college management had secured a clarification from the authorities that students wearing hijab can be allowed into the campus, but not into the classrooms. “So, we have the necessary measures in place to ensure that hijabs are not allowed in the classrooms”, he said.
High schools
Meanwhile, Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) in Mysuru Ramachandra Raje Urs said there has been a marginal improvement in the attendance of students in high schools. Several students, who had skipped school on Tuesday over the hijab issue, had turned up on Wednesday. “While 30 had skipped classes at the government school in Kavalande, only 9 were absent on Wednesday”, he said while adding that the attendance of students increased from 85 per cent on Tuesday to 86 per cent on Wednesday.
