Hijab Controversy in Educational Institution?

To Practice Religion is our Personal Right : Hijab Controversy

We can practice religion as our right. We ought to maintain all the decorums and dress codes in and around the spiritual places where we pray, worship and other spiritual practices. But when we are going to practice any games, do yoga, swimming or driving a scooter, our dresses and clothing will be different. In the modern world, women are performing different roles which generally a few decades ago didn’t. At present, like men, they are in military service, flying jets or going to space or playing football, cricket. They have their dress code. Nor do they put on a sari while they play cricket, football or swimming putting on hijab. Now the situation has been changed in any way that a student or group of students entering into the college or school campus wearing hijab. So the hijab controversy started. This incident and the controversy in favour and against is now regular gossip.

The Hijab incident took place in the Udipi district of Karnataka. The junior college authority banned the hijab in classrooms in the institution. As a result, hundreds of young people, both boys and girls of minority communities, demonstrated against the ban in Chennai. And Some groups of people in Kolkata and other places in West Bengal and Hyderabad are protesting against this ban.

The entrance to the college has now become a globally recognised spot after eight students of the college, all under 18, become the face of “resistance” against a diktat, first enforced by the college authorities and later by the state government, that barred them from wearing the hijab inside classrooms.

The controversy

The PU College in Udupi has around 1,000 students. College authorities say the institution prescribed a uniform dress code since its inception and the guidelines only allow a headscarf, not a hijab. “We have always allowed students to come with the Hijab inside the college and even inside classes. The only rule is that during classes, they have to remove them,” Rudre Gowda, the principal of the college told HT.

On July 7, 2021, the college reiterated the guidelines without any mention of the hijab, according to a petition filed in the Karnataka high court.

Yashpal Suvarna, vice-chairman of the College Development Monitoring Committee (CDMC), said the hijab was not allowed inside the classes since the beginning. “Students were allowed to remove hijab in the changing room,” he said, adding that, as a result, the hijab was not mentioned in the dress code. Suvarna is a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has opposed the wearing of hijab inside classrooms.

But the girls and their parents say that generations of Muslim women students have worn the headscarf in classrooms without any objection or incident. AH Almas, one of the eight girls, said she had seen seniors wear the hijab in classes. “I have been wearing a hijab from when I was 3-4 years old. But now we are being denied our basic fundamental right,” she said.

In September 2021, the first signs of trouble began showing, when the girls said they faced discrimination when they came to the college wearing a hijab.

“They (teachers) used to talk to us badly, gave us lower grades and kept throwing us out of class. They used to pull off our headscarves in class,” said Aliya Assadi, one of the eight protesters and a second-year student.

However, there were no protests and the institutions closed due to the Omicron-driven third Covid wave in the first week of November.

There are around 70 Muslim girls in the college, of which only eight are protesting the rules, while the others have been attending classes.

College officials say that in the first week of December, parents of these girls met with college authorities.

Around this time, the girls’ parents and relatives, some of whom are active members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates, approached the Campus Front of India (CFI), a student organisation, for help, according to members of Muslim Okkutta, a local civil society organisation. The PFI calls itself an organisation which represents interests of marginalised sections, while the CFI is its student wing.

Muslim Okkutta members said that CFI told the parents to not agree to the ban on hijab inside classrooms as the uniform dress code did not prohibit the garment. But the college insisted that they would not allow hijab inside the school campus inside the classrooms.

The talks failed and when the institution reopened on December 27, some girls came to the college wearing a hijab.

On January 1, the College Development Council (CDC), the top decision making body, met and said that the hijab would not be allowed in the classrooms.

On January 13, eight girls started protesting by sitting outside the classrooms wearing the hijab. As news of the protest spread, it fuelled communal tension in the area. The protests also spread to at least five other colleges in Udupi.

The backlash from Hindu groups was swift.

On January 15, Hindu students in neighbouring Chikmagalur district started coming to schools wearing saffron shawls and by the end of January, the controversy has become a full-blown clash of religious identities.

The situation got more complicated on February 4, when the Karnataka government enforced the uniform dress code across educational institutions under subsection (1) of section 145 of the Karnataka Education Act 1983 which allows every recognised educational institution to specify its uniform. There is no mention of hijab in the law.

“In the event of the administrative committee not selecting a uniform, clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order should not be worn,” according to the order. It adds that the educational institution can change the uniform by issuing a notice to parents a year in advance.

• Who or Whose Are Responsible ?

A girl student, Muskan by name of Junior College or some teen aged girls students at a government – run Junior College in Udipi trying to attend the classes wearing hijabs. The college authority did not allow them. In the meantime, a video became viral. The viral video shows a Muslim woman being hackled by a mob of young men shouting slogans ” Joy Sree Ram” and the girl also shouting ” Alla hu Akbar”.. Also there were heated arguments between students wearing hijabs and Saffron shawls.

The issue began gaining attention when the students of the pre-university college started protesting over the hijab ban. The college authority allowed students to wear hijab on campus but asked them to take it off inside the classroom. But they didn’t agree. On the other hand, some opposition protesters, who all wear the mandatory college uniforms argued that they should also be allowed to cover their hair and head with scarves in the classroom.

In a news, we came to know that they ( wearing hijabs) were instigated by some politicians. But the students denied the allegations. They’re acting at the behest of the Campus Front of India – the student wing of the radical Islamic group, Popular Front of India – who were advocating for them.

In India, we occasionally see that a few women of minority wear hijab or burqa, the fullest Islamic veils, not all of them. Perhaps it is a symbol of the faith. So they can wear it. It’s not prohibited in India. But in school or college? Is it permitted? Where there is a fixed dress code to follow up?

Why do teachers need to identify students in the classroom? That day, the principal of the Junior College gave a reason why the dress code is needed in the classroom. He said the teacher needed to see the student’s face and the uniform helped them ensure there was no discrimination among students.

I have also seen some days ago (West Bengal) when restarted classes after a long vacation due to 2nd phase of the pandemic, some girls students of 3rd semester, Honours graduate, attended the class wearing hijabs. I became astonished and asked them – ” why are you in the classroom wearing hijabs?” They promptly answered: ” Sir, It is our faith. You don’t ask about It”.

I had astonished to listen their answers. Though I didn’t talk more with them, and continued lecturing about subject. But still I think why this young generation of Muslim women are still following blindly these kind of Islamic ritual or religious dress code in educational institution.

I think it is a recent trends among the students to maintain such a religious dress code. During my student life and even in my 36 years of teaching life, I never saw it in my college or University. I taught in a reputed college in Murshidabad district where Muslims are the majority of the citizens, but not a single girl attended the classes wearing hijab or burqa. Never I saw this trend among Muslim girls students during my college teaching profession.

In 70s ( 70 to 78) when I was a student at college and university( University of Calcutta ) , So many Muslim girls were my classmates. They didn’t use hijabs or burqas.

When the Hijab – Issue Took Momentum?

The hijab – issue started gaining momentum when photos of the women protesters in Udipi went viral. After this incident, some Hindu students of other colleges came to classes wearing Saffron shawls, which forced officials to insist that both could not be allowed on campus.


Read more: Saraswati puja/https://kalpatarurudra.org


In the meantime, celebrities opinioned about this incident. Every day It has taken news headlines as a hot issue. Celebrities from Pakistan and India and its provinces are expressing their opinions.


On Tuesday, the Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai weighted in. She called on India’s leaders to do something to stop the marginalisation of Muslim women. ” Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying” – she tweeted.

The hijab controversy or issue spread across the states as more colleges and schools issued similar diktats. The controversy snowballed further with national political parties attacking each other over the issue.


The Karnataka Education Minister, Nagesh BC has backed college authorities who say both saffron scarves and headscarves should be banned on campus.



In a comment on the Karnataka Hijab row, UP Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath said that the system in the country should run on the Constitution of India, and not Shariat or Islamic Law.

High Court Observations:

On Wednesday, Justice Krishna Dixit, who was hearing two petitions filed on behalf of the Muslim women protesters, said the matter should be referred to a larger bench.

Legal News Website Live Law Reported:


” Having regard to the enormity of questions of importance which are debated, the Court is of the considered opinion that papers be put at the hand of the chief justice to decide if a larger bench can be constituted in the subject matter”, – said the judge.

Hijab Controversy in Educational Institution in West Bengal:

The ongoing Hijab controversy has spread from Karnataka to West Bengal, after a school principal allegedly asked a student not to wear a hijab inside the school campus.

According to sources, the incident occurred in the suti area of Murshidabad district, where Bahutali High School’s principal asked the girls students not to come to school wearing hijab, burqa. If not followed, their names would be removed from the registrar.

Having learned it, some locals and their relatives staged a protest in front of the school and started vandalising the property of the school. The police force and Block development officer rushed to the school and controlled the situation.

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has waded i 🎓nto the row over wearing a hijab in educational institutions. In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Taslima Nasreen claimed that hijab, burqa, or niqab are symbols of oppression.

Taslima Nasreen’s comment comes as the controversy over hijab spread across Karnataka and spilled over to other states in India. The Karnataka High Court is hearing the petition challenging the hijab ban in educational institutions.

Talking about the proposal of uniform dress code in schools and colleges, Taslima Nasreen said, “I believe that right to education is about right to religion.”

ALSO READ: Hijab row in HC: Why not hijabs when ghoongat and turban permitted, say petitioner

She further raised questions on whether hijab is essential.

“Some Muslims think that hijab is essential and some think that hijab is not essential. But, hijab was introduced in 7th century by some misogynist because at that time women were treated as sex objects. They believed that if men look at women, men will have sexual urge. So women have to wear hijab or burqa. They have to hide themselves from men,” the Bangladeshi author said.

Taslima Nasreen claimed that hijab or niqab or burqa is humiliating for women as well as men.

She added, “ But in our modern society, in the 21st century, we have learned that women are equal human beings, so hijab or niqab or burqa are symbols of oppression. I think burqa reduces women to just genital organs.”

WATCH: Right to education is above right to religion: Taslima Nasreen on hijab row

Hijab Controversy in Educational Institution

She emphasised that education is more important than religion, adding that in a secular society, we should have a secular dress code.

“ In schools and colleges in a secular state, we should have a secular dress code. Because education is more important than religion. People can have religious beliefs but they can practice them at home or somewhere else, but not in a secular institution,” Taslima Nasreen said.

The author stated, “The true meaning of secularism means no relation with religion. Everywhere in civilised world, secularism means state has to be separated from religion and the law should be based on equality and not on religion.”

“A person’s identity should not be their religious identity,” Taslima Nasreen said in an interview with India Today TV.

The picture above of a girl who stood first in H.S in Jammu and Kashmir and secured 499 out of 500. She love her religion and have faith in rituals, but not at hijab in school.

The district administration arranged a congrats ceremony and gave her prizes and a certificate. She was asked by fundamentalists of Kashmir – ” Why do you not wear hijab? You should learn from Karnataka girl, Muskan. She knows how to protect her religion.”.

The meritorious Kashmiri girl didn’t feel fear. Then and then she answered boldly that I obey the laws of Islam. To prove I am a perfect Muslim no need to wear a hijab”. The name of the girl is Aroosa Parviz. She told the same words before a press meet.

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