Karnataka’s state home minister ordered that Hijabs (Islamic headscarves) and saffron shawls be prohibited from being worn in schools on Thursday and noted that an educational institution should not be used for religious observance.
‘School is not for religious observations, and children should not come to school to practise their religions. There are temples, churches, mosques for prayers, and religious worship. We are free to do anything there. Students must learn the culture that we are all children of Bharat Mata (Mother of India). If students don’t receive the sacrament of ‘unity of the country’ at school, what happens? One should think on it,’ Jnanendra said.
Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh echoed similar sentiments saying, ‘We do not want the educational institution to become a battlefield between two communities. It’s a sacred place and every student should feel equal. We took a clear stand that this should not be done at the premises of the institutions’.
The government has said we will form a committee to submit a final report by next academic year and will take a strong stance on that. In the meantime, the Hindu Jagarana Vedike has threatened to start a saffron shawl movement if Muslim girls are not allowed to wear the hijab in educational institutions. Hindu boy students in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts have been threatened by right-wing groups to wear saffron shawls to school if Muslim girls are permitted to wear the hijab.
Around 40 Hindu boys from the Government Pre-University College in Kundapur wore saffron shawls as they entered their classrooms on Wednesday. On February 1, the Karnataka High Court granted a female student in Udupi district a right to wear a hijab inside the classroom at a girl’s pre-university college. In the writ petition, the student Resham Farooq was represented by her brother Mubarak Farooq. According to the petitioner, students’ right to wear a hijab is guaranteed under Articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution. Wearing a hijab is a fundamental Islamic practice.
In addition, the petitioner asks that she and her fellow students may attend classes while wearing hijab without interference from the college administration. Several students of the Islamic faith have been denied entry to the college at Udupi, according to the petition. Since they were wearing a hijab, they were unable to exercise their right to education. According to the petition, the college administration’s actions are unconstitutional, arbitrary, and exclusionary.
The petitioner is represented by Shtahabish Shivanna, Arnav A Bagalwadi, and Abhishek Janardhan. Hearings are scheduled to begin by the end of this week. K Raghupati Bhat, Udupi MLA and college development committee president, who met with students protesting their right to wear the hijab, has categorically stated that students with headscarves will not be allowed into classrooms, as determined by the education department.
Post Your Comments