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Education Minorities

Karnataka: Two Private Pre-University colleges allow students to wear Hijab

Government clarified to the K’taka HC that Government Order of February 5, won’t apply to private or minority colleges

Hijab in collegeRepresentation Image | PTI

In some relief to girl students wearing hijab, the Mysore College has, for the first time, allowed them to do so. This development comes even as the hijab controversy continues in Karnataka.

During the hearing of the contentious case in the Karnataka High Court, on February 22, the government had clarified that the February 5 Government Order (GO) that restricts religious attire and virtually bans hijabs from educational institutions, will not apply to private, minority-run institutions. The Advocate General, Prabhuling Navadgi, submitted to the Court that as far as private unaided minority institutions are concerned, the Government is not interfering with the uniform code and has left it to institutions to decide.

With the state government clarifying the said Order, Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru has also allowed pre-university students to attend class wearing the hijab along with the uniform.

It is interesting that, at a time when several schools and colleges in Karnataka are turning away Muslim girl students and even teachers for wearing hijab and burqa on the campus, an educational institute in Mysuru and another in Bengaluru, are taking a different approach.

According to a report in The Times of India, a private college in Mysuru city has cancelled its uniform rule to allow Muslim students to attend classes with the hijab. It is the first college in the state to make such a decision. 

“Four students refused to attend classes without the hijab and were protesting,” DK Srinivasa Murthy, DDPU, Mysuru, told The Times of India on February 19. “Some organisations extended support to them. I visited the college today and held discussions with all. Meanwhile, the college announced that it is cancelling its uniform rule to allow the students to attend classes,” he added.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Mount Carmel College in Bengaluru has also allowed pre-university students to attend class wearing the hijab along with the uniform. The college had earlier requested an Amritdhari Sikh student in its pre-university section to remove her turban on the basis of an interpretation of the high court’s February 10 order barring religious clothing in colleges with uniforms or dress codes.

In the first punitive action against students seeking entry into colleges despite the interim order of the Karnataka High Court banning hijabs, saffron shawls or any religious clothing inside classrooms in institutes that prescribe a uniform, police on Friday lodged an FIR against about 20 students of a Tumkur college on charges of violating such orders.

 

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