Students want to wear hijab in class but the college has refused permission (Representational)
Bangalore:
It has been three weeks since some Muslim girls studying in a government college in Karnataka’s Udupi were allowed to study in the classroom, with the freedom to practice their religion at the core of the issue.
Students want to wear hijab inside classrooms, but the college administration refused permission and insisted that all students follow a uniform dress code.
The Assistant Commissioner of Udupi is meeting the Principal and the protesting students today.
The state government, however, said that it “has not fixed a uniform (dress) code”, but urged the students to follow the more than three-decade old rule of the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC), saying, 94 students don’t have. Problem… Please follow the dress code”.
Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh also accused the opposition of politicizing the issue after students sought help from the PFI-affiliated Campus Front of India.
“There is only one reason for this trigger… Assembly elections are due in 2023. They (opposition) don’t have any good idea to woo voters… is trying to polarize. The code is not fixed… we accept it. (But) in 1985 the SDMC made a uniform dress code mandatory and they (college officials) want to stick to it,” Mr. Nagesh said.
“To avoid (complications) the Uniform Code is in force… it is being followed for the last 36 years. The maximum number of students are Muslims and 94 have no problem… It is only six who now have one. The issue is. We have only one request – please follow the dress code,” the minister said.
On Sunday, PFI’s Karnataka unit general secretary Nasir Pasha had accused some colleges of creating controversy over the hijab issue and violating religious freedom of Muslims.
Earlier this month, following a controversy in Udupi, students at a college in Koppa district came to classes wearing saffron-coloured scarves to protest against wearing the hijab.
One of the students told news agency PTI, “Similar controversy had arisen three years ago… decided that no one should come to college wearing hijab, but since last few days some women are wearing it …”
With input from PTI
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