No such restrictions: Sisodia on girl’s allegation of being asked to remove hijab in school

PTI, Feb 24, 2022, 4:46 PM IST

New Delhi: A day after a Delhi government school student alleged that she was asked to remove hijab by her teacher, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said no such restrictions have been imposed and the issue is being politicised by some people.

Addressing a press conference, Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, said the AAP dispensation respects all traditions and students from all religions and castes are treated with dignity at its schools.

The comments by Sisodia came after a minor girl from a Delhi government school in Mustafabad alleged that she was asked to remove her headscarf at school. The girl made the allegation in a video which went viral on social media.

”Delhi schools have an excellent arrangement to teach students. Regarding this incident..attempts are being made to politicise the issue. In our schools, students of all religions and caste are treated with dignity. There are no restrictions from our side and their traditions are respected,” Sisodia said in response to a question.

”I also enquired that how this incident happened but so far I don’t think there is a problem…our school system and education department has not imposed any restrictions in this regard,” he added.

The girl, who is wearing a hijab, says in the video in Hindi, ”Teachers told me not to come to the class wearing this scarf. Don’t be like your mother, and don’t come to school wearing the scarf. There were two-three other girls who were asked to remove their headscarves.” According to sources, the school authorities have discussed the matter with her parents and the issue has been amicably resolved.

”The existing practice in all government schools in Delhi for the past several decades has been that if girls wear hijab or scarf on their way to school, they take it off on entering the school premises, before they go to class. ”In this case, once the girl entered school premises, her teachers requested her to take off the scarf as per the existing practice. Later, the school authorities discussed the matter with her parents and the matter has been amicably resolved,” a source said on Wednesday.

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

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

The Karnataka High Court hearing the hijab case on Wednesday said the uniform prescribed by schools and colleges should be followed till the disposal of the case.