Udupi college allows students wearing Hijab - but to be seated in separate classrooms
Udupi: After days of protest, students wearing Hijab have been allowed to enter the campus of Government PU College on Monday in Kundapura area of Udupi district in Karnataka. However, such students will be seated in separate classrooms, informed the school administration.
"The situation is under control in Kundapura, and students are being allowed to come to the colleges and the campus even if they're wearing Hijab. There is no law and order situation in Kundapur," said ST Siddalingappa, Additional Superintendent of Police, Udupi.
Students were protesting near the campus after they were allegedly denied entry for wearing Hijab into Government PU College on Friday.
Meanwhile, classes were suspended at Shanteshwar Education Trust in Vijayapura today after some students arrived on the campus wearing saffron stoles amid the ongoing Hijab row in Karnataka educational institutions.
Students of different colleges in Karnataka are coming to colleges wearing saffron stoles to protest against those who are insisting to wear Hijab in the classrooms.
The pre-University education board on Saturday had released a circular stating that the students can only wear the uniform approved by the school administration and no other religious practices will be allowed in colleges. The education minister of Karnataka, BC Nagesh has said that wearing saffron stoles or Hijab is not allowed inside the classroom.
The Karnataka High Court will on Tuesday hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-University College in Udupi, questioning the restriction on wearing hijab in college. State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to everyone to maintain peace and said his government will take steps after the court's order.
He also asked educational institutions to follow mandatory uniform rules issued by the government until the court's order comes out. Speaking to reporters after landing in the national capital, Bommai said, "The matter is before the high court and it will be decided there. Therefore, I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and no one should take steps to disturb the peace." "All should follow the state's order (on uniform) and tomorrow the court's decision will come and, therefore, we will take steps," he added.
The hijab row has also taken a political colour, as the ruling BJP has stood strongly in support of uniform-related rules being enforced by educational institutions, calling the headscarf, a religious symbol, while the opposition Congress has come out in support of protesting Muslim girls. The issue that initially began in January at a Government PU College in Udupi where six students who attended classes wearing headscarves in violation of the stipulated dress code were sent out, has spread to a few other colleges in the city and in nearby Kundapur and Byndoor. There have also been reports of similar instances of students turning up at educational institutions with either hijab or saffron shawl in Ramdurg PU College in Belagavi and a college in Hassan, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga, and also a group of girls staging demonstrations in Mysuru and Kalaburagi in favour of the hijab.
