The protests and arguments over the State Government’s refusal to allow students wearing hijab to enter classrooms continued on Tuesday, the second day after schools reopened following holidays on the issue.
Students wearing hijabs and their parents entered into arguments with the school staff in parts of Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Belur districts. Several students spoke to the media questioning the government’s rule on the issue and maintained that the teachers had not read the High Court’s interim order fully. They argued that the interim order, which banned hijab and saffron shawl, was for colleges, not schools.
Further, they said the girls were covering their heads with the veil, which was part of the school uniform. “Our children are not violating the uniform rule. What is wrong if they cover their heads with the veil, part of the uniform”, they wanted to know.
Many students reached the Government High School at Indavara in Chikkamagaluru taluk wearing hijabs. They were accompanied by their parents. When the school staff asked them not to enter the school premises without removing the hijabs, they argued that they had the right to wear the scarves. The parents, who stood by their children, said they want their children to get quality education and insisted their children should not be sent back home. The SSLC students were not allowed to take the preparatory examinations.
As the school authorities felt it difficult to handle the situation, they declared a holiday for the school after taking permission from the senior officers. The parents opposed the decision and said that schools should not be closed as the final examinations were approaching.
Meanwhile, a boy took out a saffron shawl from his bag. The police deployed at the school intervened and convinced him to put it back in his bag. A similar incident was reported in Mudigere, where a girl argued that she had the right to wear the hijab and nobody including her parents could force her to remove it.
In Shivamogga a few girls walked out of Karnataka Public School as they were not allowed inside as they were wearing hijabs. On Monday too 13 students had skipped the SSLC preparatory examinations. A student told the media that her parents had told her to return home if she was not allowed to enter the school with hijab. She argued that nobody had the right to ask her to remove her headscarf.
Similar incidents were reported at Shiralakoppa and Shikaripur in Shivamogga district and at Belur in Hassan district.
Colleges
The pre-university and degree colleges are scheduled to reopen on Wednesday. As part of the preparation, a meeting was convened by the College Development Committee of the Government PU College at Rippanpet in Hosanagar taluk of Shivamogga district.
In the college with over 650 students, around 20 are Muslim girls. Participating in the meeting, a few of them made it clear that they would not attend classes on Wednesday if they were not allowed to wear hijabs. College principal S.K. Manjunath and other teachers tried to convince them to attend classes, following the High Court’s interim order.
