Karnataka: Students boycott exam, skip colleges amid row

Denied entry with the hijab, students across the coastal district and other parts of Karnataka stayed away from schools and colleges that have closed the gates for those entering these institutions with the headscarves, used by women who practice Islam.

Parents of protesting students in Kundapura of Udupi district on Monday submitted assignments to the government junior college in the taluka while several Muslim students across Karnataka boycotted the second pre-university practical examination after they were not allowed to enter the classrooms wearing a hijab.

Some students were seen walking up to the gates of the college where professors checked and took in their assignments. (PTI)

Denied entry with the hijab, students across the coastal district and other parts of Karnataka stayed away from schools and colleges that have closed the gates for those entering these institutions with the headscarves, used by women who practice Islam.

Some students were seen walking up to the gates of the college where professors checked and took in their assignments.

Hijab-wearing students of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) college in Udupi left without writing their preparatory exams.

Udupi has had an eerie silence ever since the temple-town became the battleground for hijab and saffron-clad students fighting their classmates to assert their religious identity since the first week of February.

Students at G Shankar government college were seen pleading with their teachers to be allowed inside the class, only to be denied entry citing the Karnataka high court’s interim order on February 10.

The eight students from Udupi Pre-University Girl’s College, who filed the first petition in the Karnataka high court against the ban on hijab in educational institutions, also remained absent from the exams.

More than 40 students in the Vijayapura district boycotted exams for being asked to remove their hijab and staging protests before the District Commissioner’s Office, a senior government official said.

At Women’s Polytechnic College in Hassan, around 10 students refused to remove their hijabs before entering the campus. The students got into an argument with the principal, demanding entry into classes wearing hijab. However, they had to return home.

Nine students of Madikeri Junior College staged a silent protest at the entrance gate.

Students at Kolar Government Pre-University College demanded a letter from the principal for not allowing them to wear hijab in classrooms. They claimed that the court has consented to the entry of students into colleges that do not have a college development committee. However, they were not allowed to enter the campus.

“The school uniform should be prescribed at the beginning of June or July. But in January, February and March, they are prescribing the deliberate dress code. The conspiracy of the BJP is to prevent the Muslim girls from getting an education,” Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister and Congress leader of the opposition said on Monday.

While Congress has kept its distance from the Hijab row, barring a few stray statements, the BJP has gone on the offensive to attack minority organizations for being the main perpetrators of the entire episode.

While several students boycotted the exams, education department officials said that majority of the students, including those from the Muslim community, attended the examination, with many girl students entering classes without hijab.

Practical exams are being held for physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, computer science and electronics subjects.

A senior government official on Sunday had said that students protesting the hijab ban might not be allowed to reappear for the pre-university practical examinations if they miss it.

“The exams were to start from February 17 but were postponed as the colleges were shut because of the ongoing hijab controversy. Now, we have given clear instructions to the colleges that those who miss the examination will not be given a chance to appear for the examination again,” said a senior government official while pleading anonymity.

This would mean that they will lose out 30 out of 100 marks. The main exams are scheduled between April 16 and May 6.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has extended the prohibitory orders surrounding 200 meters of surroundings of schools, PU Colleges, Degree Colleges or other educational institutions till March 8.

Prohibitory orders will continue in the Koppal district till February 26. The district administration has warned that within around a 300-meter radius more than five people can’t gather.