The Karnataka government on Wednesday revoked the 2022 order that had effectively barred hijabs in classrooms where uniforms were prescribed and replaced it with a new directive allowing students to wear “limited” traditional and faith-based symbols in schools and colleges of the state, The Hindu reported.
The earlier order, issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Basavaraj Bommai in February 2022, had effectively enforced a ban on hijabs in educational institutions by stating that the students are allowed to wear only the uniforms prescribed by schools and pre-university colleges.
It had also stated that where uniforms were not prescribed, clothing that disturbed “equality, integrity and public law and order” should not be worn.
The directive came after a government college in Udupi barred six girls from attending classes in December 2021 for wearing headscarves. The students staged protests, which soon spread to other parts of Karnataka.
The students challenged theorder in the Karnataka High Court, which upheld the ban. In its judgement, the High Court held that wearing hijab was not essential to Islam.
The judgement was then challenged before the Supreme Court, which delivered a split verdict in October 2022. A two-judge bench said that the matter would be placed before the chief justice for his directions on the future course of action.
However the reference has been pending since then.
On Wednesday, School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa said that the new order allows symbols including the hijab or headscarf, janivara or sacred thread, turbans, rudraksha beads, shivadhara and similar traditional or religious items, provided they do not interfere with student identification, discipline, safety, teaching or public order, The News Minute reported.
The order also said that no student should be denied entry to a classroom, educational institution or examination hall solely for wearing permitted symbols. At the same time, no student can be forced either to wear or remove such symbols.
The move came weeks after a student appearing for the Common Entrance Test at a college in Koramangala in Bengaluru was reportedly asked to remove his sacred thread before entering the examination hall.
The police later registered a case following complaints from the student’s parents and suspended three staff members.
On Wednesday, the BJP criticised the new order, alleging that the Congress government was engaging in “vote bank politics”, The News Minute reported.
Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly R Ashoka said the move was aimed at appeasing a section of voters and accused the government of disregarding the Karnataka High Court judgment that upheld the earlier dress code policy.
Edited by Tanya Shrivastava
Also read:
One year of Karnataka’s war on Muslim women’s right to learn
What the opposition to the hijab says about Indian secularism and the sidelining of Muslim identity
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