Allowing hijab-wearing students to appear for exams; 7 suspended in Karnataka
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Gadag (Karnataka): Amid the controversy over hijab ban in Karnataka schools snowballing into new forms of disputes and government action, the Karnataka Education Department has suspended 7 teachers including 2 superintendents for allowing hijab clad students to take SSLC (class 10) exams in Gadag district.
The department has also ordered an inquiry on the suspended persons. These teachers and superintendents were charged with allowing hijab clad girls to write exams on Monday at the C.S. Patil Examination Centre in Gadag, news agency IANS reported.
Meanwhile, Sriram Sene Kalaburagi District President, Ninganna Gouda Patil has lodged a complaint with the Block Education Officer of Kalaburagi demanding the suspension of Mohammad Ali, the teacher of Ijeri Urdu School in Jevargi taluk for allowing a student to write exams wearing hijab. In his complaint he has warned that in the absence of action, there would be protests.
Following the Karnataka High Court Special Bench dismissal of the petitions filed by students seeking permission to allow them to wear hijab and attend classes, the government has prohibited wearing of hijab while writing exams in the state.
Under the force of the High Court order, and in the context of losing a year if they fail to comply with the order, many students belonging to the minority community are attending exams in uniforms and without hijab. A separate room is being arranged for Muslim students to remove burqa, hijab and then attend exams.
Earlier on Monday, a lady invigilator who was monitoring examinations wearing hijab was suspended after she refused to take it off in Rajajinagar of Bengaluru. It has been pointed out however, that the High Court order does not cover teachers and invigilators and only bind students.
At the same time, many students have remained absent and went back from the examination centres after being asked to remove hijab.
As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for SSLC exams this academic year among which 4,52,732 are boys and 4,21,110 are girl students. Four students belonging to the third gender and 5,307 specially abled children are also taking exams. More than 20,000 students had remained absent on the first day of SSLC exams. The SSLC (Class 10) examinations commenced on March 28 and will be held till April 11.
