After Karnataka, schoolgirl in Pondy asked to remove hijab in class

The controversy over girl students wearing hijab to educational institutions has now spread from Karnataka to Puducherry with the Union territory reporting a case where a Muslim student was barred from wearing the religious scarf to school by the principal.

The incident has kicked off a row in the Union territory, with political parties demanding the state school education department to take appropriate steps against the school administration. In a meeting with political leaders and activists on Monday, director of school education department PT Rudra Goud promised to send a circular to all schools to allow Muslim students to wear hijab on campus.

The incident happened on February 4, when schools reopened in the Union territory after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Sources said that a Class IX student of Ariyankuppam Government High School in Puducherry was allegedly asked by the school principal not to wear hijab to the school.

“My daughter is studying in the same school for many years. She is wearing the hijab from Class 1. But none of the teachers in the school has asked her to remove the hijab. She has attained puberty now. How can we send our daughter without the hijab? We decided to continue her schooling at the same school as it has 10 other hijab-wearing Muslim girl students and their behaviour is good,” said Iqbal, the student’s father.

Iqbal says, the day the school reopened, his daughter was allowed to sit in the class, but remove her hijab and keep it inside her school bag. He said the principal had also warned her against wearing the hijab two months back.

“But before we could take up the matter with the school management, the institution was shut down due to COVID. After school reopened, the principal chose to target my daughter on the first day itself. When we approached her, she asked us to get a letter from the school education department, granting permission to my daughter to attend classes while wearing the hijab,” said Iqbal, who is also an office-bearer of Social Democratic Party of India, Puducherry.

It is to be noted the union territory is ruled by the NR Congress and BJP coalition government and the education portfolio is handled by A Namassivayam, a BJP minister.

Gayathri Srikanth, an office bearer of Puducherry DMK’s women’s wing and a teacher alleged that the school has got an oral order from the education department not to allow hijab-wearing Muslim girls to attend classes.

“The government could have given an oral order to the schools. Besides not allowing hijab-wearing girls to class, in another government school at Thirukkanur, ‘shakhas’ are being conducted by the RSS. It is not clear whether those kinds of activities are allowed in the government school campuses with or without the approval of the principals concerned,” she said.

She sought to know when universities are allowing Muslim girls to wear the hijab, why the government is banning it in schools.

CS Swaminathan, founder, Puducherry Union Territory Students Federation said that the government school walls have been recently painted in saffron hues, an apparent indication of how the BJP is trying to sow communal discrimination among the students.

“The government schools have images of various Hindu gods. In the name of teaching yogasanas, the students are asked to shout slogans of ‘Om Kali’ and ‘Jai Kali’. When we enquired about these activities with the school department, they are evading answers,” he said.

Following his meeting with leaders of various political parties, director of school education PT Rudra Goud has promised to send a circular to all schools on allowing Muslim girls to wear hijab, said Pravin, a member of Students Federation of India, Puducherry.

The Federal tried to contact chief educational officer K Meenakshisundaram, but he was not available for comments.