Hijab verdict: 19 students in Karnataka face bleak future

Three months after the Karnataka High Court ruled that Muslim girl students should abide by the decision of the college development committees (CDCs) and wear prescribed uniforms without hijab, 19 students of a government first-grade college at Haleyangadi have been skipping classes since then.

The students, who wanted to wear hijabs in classrooms, are now on the verge of dropping out of the college as they have neither appeared for written examinations nor have attended classes for the last three months.

Similar incidents of girl students dropping out had been reported at the university college of Mangalore and the government’s first-grade college at Uppinangady which were solved later after conducting discussions with students and parents.

However, the 19 students at Haleyangadi college are facing loss of education after the college authorities strictly prohibited them from wearing hijab inside the institution in compliance with the High Court verdict of March 15.

Also Read: Hijab protest: 23 girl students suspended in Karnataka

Though the students say that the High Court order is only applicable to pre-university colleges, the Court clarified that the order can be implied to all the institutions where the CDCs have prescribed specific dress code or uniform.

Some students have made up their mind to discontinue studies though they still have a distant hope that the college authorities will reverse their decision, sources said.

College principal K Sridhar said that the nineteen girls, who are third year degree students, did not appear for the exams and skipped the new semester classes. Though they tried to convince the students to comply with the High Court order but they are insisting on wearing hijab, he said.

Discussions with parents of the students was not promising, the principal said, adding it is unfortunate to see the girls, who had been studying in the institute, take a dropout suddenly.