A day after Muslim students from Mangaluru University submitted a memorandum to allow them to wear hijab in classrooms, Vice-Chancellor P Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya has assured to facilitate them in securing admission to other colleges.
On Friday (May 27), he informed that the college would provide counselling to the Muslim students in the hopes that they change the decision. However, if they insist on wearing a hijab, then, the college administration will help them get admission elsewhere.
“We have learned that about 15 girls are firm about wearing the hijab to class. We are ready to counsel these girls and make them understand the Karnataka high court order. If counselling does not work, we will help them get admission in educational institutions where the hijab is allowed or where there are no uniforms,” the VC added.
It must be mentioned that the college had earlier allowed headscarves, which matched the colour of their uniform. The Vice-Chancellor of Mangaluru University College informed that there was confusion about whether the Karnataka High Court order on hijab was applicable to degree colleges.
An emergency meeting, which was attended by Mangalore South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath, was called to resolve the issue. During the meeting, it was decided that wearing the hijab and other religious attire will remain prohibited in classrooms.
“There was confusion about whether the high court order would apply to degree colleges. However, according to the advisory of the state government, the higher education council, and the court order, all colleges will have to comply with the uniform,” P Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya emphasised.
The Muslim students can, however, wear hijab within the campus but must remove their religious attire while attending classes or entering the canteen and the library. The Vice-Chancellor of Mangaluru University College has also vowed to take action against college professors, who were encouraging Muslim students to wear hijab in class.
Students launch protest at Mangaluru University College
The controversy erupted on Thursday (May 26) after a group of students from the University College in Mangaluru had protested against the college authorities, alleging that a few Muslim girl students were attending classes in hijab in violation of the Karnataka High Court order.
The protesting students contended that they were being forced to wear the college uniform while the 44 Muslim students were being allowed to wear hijab to college. The students also alleged that some of them were wearing the hijab in the classrooms too.
They also hit out at the college principal and other concerned authorities for failing to enforce uniform rules on the college premises. The students alleged that the college authorities were under pressure from a local political leader.
Karnataka Hijab row and the test of essentiality in religion
The Karnataka Hijab row started out in January this year at a Pre-University College in Udupi where a group of 6 Muslim girls insisted that they be allowed to take classes in their hijab
Given that uniforms were in existence at the said PU college since 1985, the school administration refused to relent to their religious diktat. Thereafter, the girls refused to enter classrooms and began holding protests within the premises of the college.
With the backing of Islamist outfits such as PFI and Campus Front of India, the ‘hijab movement’ spread to other schools and colleges in Karnataka. The hijab row witnessed the mobilization of Islamists and counter-protests by Hindu students, demanding the concept of uniformity in schools.
When the matter reached the Karnataka High Court, it ruled that Hijab is not an essential practice in Islam and that uniform is a reasonable restriction on the ‘Right to Religion.’
