Two Burqa-clad students in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijaywada were reportedly allowed to enter the college despite college rules clearly insisting on uniforms. The incident happened in Vijaywada’s Andhra Loyola College where two Burqa-clad girls came to the college wearing burqa, wherein The principal objected that girls and faculty are not allowed inside classes in Muslim attire.
Two students of Loyola College, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh are disallowed from attending classes in burqa. The college authorities have said hijab is allowed in classes but not burqa. A protest is underway. @TheQuint pic.twitter.com/QVeG3W3qra
— Nikhila Henry (@NikhilaHenry) February 17, 2022
On Thursday morning, two girls – Pathan Sadikunnissa and Shaik Reshma who are B.Sc. Second-year students at Andhra Loyola College entered the premises wearing Burqa. One of the girls, Sadikunnissa, claimed that they were barred from entering the college by the Principal. She claimed, “We have been wearing hijabs from the beginning and our ID cards were also photographed with traditional hijab wear. Now the correspondent says that we can’t come to college wearing it.”
However, as reported by The News Minute, the ID card of the girls has the picture of the girls clad in Hijab (a scarf that covers the head up to the neck), and not the Burqa (The full-body veil). The girls had entered the college campus by wearing burqa, and not just the Hijab. Responding to their claims, Loyola College Principal, Father GAP Kishore said, “This morning, while I was on rounds in the college, I found three girls entering college late. Two among them were in Muslim attire. I asked them to go to the girls’ waiting room and change before going to the classroom. However, they refused and went away.”
Furthermore, when the parents of one girl came to the college to speak on their behalf, Father Kishore asserted that no Muslim dress was allowed in the college’s code of conduct. According to him, “We never saw anyone wearing a hijab or burqa inside the classroom. We have many Muslim students, and they change their traditional attire in the waiting room,” he spoke to TNM. The college dress code of Loyola college does not allow for any Muslim dress – be it Hijab or Burqa whatsoever.
However, after much negotiation, the two girls were allowed to attend the classes by the management of Loyola College. After the Karnataka Hijab Row erupted, this was the first incident from a college in Andhra Pradesh where students attended college in burqa. What could have served as a wake-up call for the college, turned out that the management failed to translate its own rules regarding the compulsion of uniforms.
