Hijab row: High schools reopen in Karnataka

PTI, Feb 14, 2022, 2:12 PM IST

Bengaluru: High schools in Karnataka reopened on Monday after being shut from last Wednesday following untoward incidents in parts of the State over the hijab row.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed in sensitive areas in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, and Bengaluru.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday expressed confidence that peace and normalcy will prevail.

He had also said that a decision regarding the reopening of Pre-University and Degree colleges will be taken after assessing the situation.

The government on Friday said that the holiday announced to universities belonging to the Department of Higher Education and colleges under the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education (DCTE), in the wake of the raging Hijab row, has been extended till February 16.

In the Udupi district, high schools reopened on Monday with Education Department sources saying that attendance was normal in all the institutions. Muslim girl students, who reached the school campuses wearing hijabs, removed them before entering classes.

Examinations scheduled for the day are also going on in the institutions.

Police personnel have been posted in Udupi town and near the schools to maintain law and order and to avoid any untoward incident. The Udupi district administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC around 200-meter radius of all high schools in the district from Monday till February 19 to maintain peace.

Udupi Tahsildar Pradeep Kurudekar, who visited a few schools, said Muslim students are abiding by the High Court’s interim order by removing hijabs before entering classes.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Udupi Pejawar mutt chief Swami Vishwaprasanna Teertha appealed to all sections to avoid chaos and maintain peace. The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the Hijab row, had earlier requested the state government to reopen educational institutions and restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, Hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing hijab.

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijabs in classes which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear the hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college principal Rudre Gowda had said.

”The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces,” Rudre Gowda had said.