Hijab row: govt firm on not holding re-exams for absentees
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Bengaluru: Future of many Muslim girl students are hanging in balance after Karnataka Education minister BC Nagesh clarified on Monday that the government would not hold re-exams for absentees.
Indian Express reported the minister as saying that whatever the reasons students absented from exams, this year would be no different. He added that the government would follow the court order be it on hijab or other reasons but 'we will not hold examinations again'. According to Nagesh about 400 Muslim women students skipped schools and colleges on Monday.
Even after the Karnataka High Court order on Tuesday, banning Hijab and saffron shawl in colleges, many a Muslim student boycotted classes and exams across the state, according to the report.
JC Madhuswamy, minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, said that we (government) could accommodate students who had not attended exams before the court order but not those who have not attended after the ruling.
The Campus Front of India (CFI) on Monday stated that it would continue fight in the Supreme Court.
Sarfaraz Gangavathi of the CFI said that the ruling BJP didn't want to educate Muslim women students. He added that in their visit to several colleges in 25 districts, CFI found 11,000 Muslim students being affected by the rule. The outfit according to him was collecting the data. What minister Nagesh claims is unreported and it's much beyond that, he said.
Students in several places in the state on Monday skipped colleges after being barred entry over hijab. In Uppinangady government PU College in Dakshina Kannada district, students protested after being denied entry, the report said.
Meanwhile, students at SKNG first grade College of Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya University were allegedly being abused for wearing hijab. A third semester BSc student accused the faculty of insisting on removing hijab.
She was quoted by the Indian Express as saying that they had been appearing for examination wearing burqa but never questioned. She added that following this controversy they are being asked to remove hijab. She further said that the order is restricted to PU colleges but the principal was not accepting students' argument.
