Kerala school slams govt dept’s charges over hijab row, may move court

The Catholic Church-run school reopened for classes on Wednesday after two days even though the student, who insisted on wearing te hijab, did not turn up for classes purportedly due to health issues

The principal of St Rita’s Public School in Palluruthy, where the controversy over a student’s hijab broke out this week, denied the charges levelled against the school management by the education department and vowed to go to court over the same.

Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden speaks to the media, in Kochi on Tuesday. A hijab row at a Christian-run private school in Kerala appears headed for resolution after Eden said that the girl’s father had expressed willingness to let his daughter continue studying at the school in accordance with its rules. (PTI PHOTO)

The school management’s position became clear on a day the state’s General Education Minister V Sivankutty appeared to climb down from his earlier view that the student must be allowed to wear the hijab (headscarf) as part of her religious beliefs.

The Catholic Church-run school reopened for classes on Wednesday after two days even though the student, who insisted on wearing te hijab, did not turn up for classes purportedly due to health issues.

Sivankutty on Tuesday had railed against the Catholic school management on the basis of an inquiry report by the deputy director of education (DDE), stating that there were ‘serious lapses’ on its part in preventing the student from attending classes and that the school officials’ actions amounted to a violation of education rights.

On Wednesday, Sr Heleena Alby, the school’s principal, told reporters that the DDE report was ‘false’ and that the minister made his statement without verifying facts.

“The inquiry report of the education department does not contain the truth. We have the necessary evidence. We have filed our report with evidence. The case is currently in the High Court. Let it remain like that. In 2018, the HC had ruled that the management of each school held the right to decide on the uniform code. So we will continue to follow the rules set by the management,” she said.

The principal said the school had ‘never denied the student’s right to education.’ “The student has not been expelled. She continues to be our student,” she said.

At the same time, minister Sivankutty took a U-turn from his position on Tuesday that the student has the right to wear hijab in school as part of her religious beliefs.

“I heard from newspapers that there was a round of mediation that took place at the school in the presence of an MP. I understand that the parents of the girl have agreed to send her to school without the headscarf. If that is the case, let the issue be resolved there,” he said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.

The father of the girl student on Tuesday had said that he would send his daughter in accordance with the school’s uniform policy following mediation talks in the presence of Congress MP Hibi Eden. The father, PM Anas, had said that he did not want the issue to evolve into a major communal topic.