Hijab Row: Shivakumar asks parents, govt to convince students not to ruin their careers

Bengaluru: In the thick of the bitter passions in the state over hijab, the state congress president DK Shivakumar on Saturday voiced for a middle ground urging the government and parents to convince students about the court verdict.

Speaking to reporters here, the congress leader also wanted parents and the government to ensure students' careers were not ruined.

He was responding to the state government's decision to ban students attending SSLC exams wearing hijab.

Urging parents to sit and talk with students, he said that education was of paramount importance and students might commit mistake as well as being persistent but their future should not be harmed by it.

Sounding sentient amid the continuing spiteful situation, he asked religious leaders, parents and teachers to convince themselves first before persuading children to understand the importance of education. Children always listen to their teachers' words and the mother is their first teacher, he added.

For the congress the constitution is like Bible, Quran or Bhagavad Gita, he said without specifically responding to when asked about Opposition leader Siddaramaiah's suggestion for students to put on dupatta around their heads and write exams.

Sivakumar said that he was not in a position to say that the court verdict was wrong. He. however, said that some agreed with the court verdict and some did not.

The SSLC exams will begin from March 28 through April 11 at 3,444 centres across the state and as many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled this year.

The Karnataka High Court recently upholding the ban on hijab in educational institutions said that it is not an "essential religious practice" in Islam.