Arguments erupt between parents, teacher as Karnataka school asks students to take off hijab
An argument broke out between parents and a teacher outside a Karnataka school after the students were asked to take off the hijab, or headscarf, before entering the campus.
In a video shared by news agency ANI, a staff member was seen asking hijab-clad Muslim girl students to take off their headscarves as their parents drop them at outside Rotary School in Mandya, Karnataka. One of the parents said that they were requesting the teacher to allow the students inside the classroom before they take off the hijab, reported ANI.
“We are requesting the school administration to allow students in the classrooms. The students can take off hijab after entering the classrooms but the teachers are arguing with us,” Asif said, as quoted by ANI.
The debate over the right to wear the hijab to the schools and colleges has been raging for the past few days after a Karnataka college denied entry to some Muslim girl students for wearing the headscarf. The decision resulted in protests from Muslim students, followed by counterprotests from Hindu students who wore saffron scarves to educational institutions.
A three-judge bench of the Karnataka high court is expected to resume hearing today on the petitions filed by students challenging the hijab ban in colleges. On Friday, the court uploaded the interim order passed on the petitions, directing the educational institutions to defer the reopening. The court said the argument that wearing of hijab in the classroom is a part of the essential religious practice of Islam needs a deeper examination.
“Pending consideration of all these petitions, we restrain all the students regardless of their religion or faith from wearing saffron shawls (bhagwa) and connect matters scarfs, hijab, religious flags or the like within the classroom,” it added.
High schools in Karnataka reopened on Monday after being shut from last Wednesday. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been imposed in sensitive areas in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, and Bengaluru.