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Andhra college: Hijab-clad students allowed entry after collector steps in
The girls, final year Bachelor of Science (BSc) students at the Andhra Loyola College, an autonomous institution established in 1953, told reporters that on Thursday they were stopped by the security staff at the entrance, questioning them about the burqa and hijab.
Amid the raging controversy on the wearing of hijab inside educational institutions in Karnataka, three Muslim girls studying at a popular Christian college in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada district have made similar allegations against the management.
The girls, final year Bachelor of Science (BSc) students at the Andhra Loyola College, an autonomous institution established in 1953, told reporters that on Thursday they were stopped by the security staff at the entrance, questioning them about the burqa and hijab.
“College principal Father G A P Kishore came there and pulled us up for wearing burqa and hijab. He asked us why we were wearing our traditional dress now when we have been attending the classes in the uniform. He told us to change the dress,” one of the students said.
She recalled that they had been coming to the college in burqas and hijab since they had joined the institution two years ago. The girls also displayed their college identity cards showing their pictures with hijab.
The girls feared that the hijab row in Karnataka might be repeated in their college. They immediately brought it to the notice of their parents, who in turn, alerted their community elders. They also informed district collector J Nivas about the same.
The parents, along with the community elders reached the college and protested with the college management. Meanwhile, on instructions from the collector, officials of state education department and the local police intervened and held talks with the college management.
Later, college principal Kishore said the issue had been settled “for now”, following instructions from the district collector. “We shall allow the Muslim girls to attend their classes in their traditional dress,” he said.
In a statement issued in the evening, Kishore said Andhra Loyola College was a decades’ old institution catering to the educational needs of all sections of the society, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. He said the college has a prescribed college uniform for all the students, and everybody was following the dress code. “It is the usual practice that they wear their traditional dress. They remove their attire in the ladies’ waiting room and attend the classes in the prescribed dress code,” he said. The girls also confirmed this practice.
On Thursday, he noticed the Muslim girls, who came to the college late by 10 minutes, were requesting the faculty members to let them attend their classes in burqa and hijab, as they had no time to change. “I told them to go to the waiting room to remove their traditional dress,” he said.
Kishore said the girls said their parents could object to attending the classes without wearing a hijab or burqa. “I asked the girls to bring their parents so that he could remind them of the dress code. The girls went back and returned with their parents, who started arguing about denying entry to the girls in their traditional dress,” he said.
“Meanwhile, I received a telephone call from the district collector who advised me to allow the students for the time being, and the students were allowed into the classes,” the principal explained.
