Karnataka SSLC exams: Hijab-wearing invigilator suspended in Bengaluru
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Bengaluru: A Muslim teacher from Bengaluru has been suspended for refusing to take off Hijab while supervising the SSLC (Class 10) examination at a school, the News Minute reported.
As per reports, Noor Fathima, was sent back from the examination centre and suspended after she refused to remove the hijab, sources in the Karnataka education department revealed.
The decision to suspend her could create new ripples in the ongoing hijab controversy as the state ban on Hijab, and its endorsement by the High Court later on, is only for students.
Earlier on Friday, the Karnataka government had issued a circular mandating uniforms for students appearing for the SSLC or class 10 board exams which began on Monday, March 28.
The circular stated that students of government schools will have to appear in uniforms prescribed by the government whereas private school students will have to wear the uniform prescribed by their respective school managements.
However, there were no restrictions on wearing hijab for teacher or other staff.
Meanwhile, several incidents of hijab-clad students being denied entry into exam halls were also reported in districts like Hubballi and Bagalkote district.
Authorities of an exam centre in a school in Hubballi district sent back Muslim girls, who came to write exams sporting the hijab.
A similar scene was witnessed in a government school in Ilkal town of Bagalkote district where Muslim students were denied entry to write the SSLC board exams.
However, a majority of Muslim students chose to write the exam without hijab, saying that the exam was more important for them than wearing the headscarf in exam halls, sources said.
According to the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), over 8.69 lakh students had enrolled for the exam but 20,994 students did not turn up. Last year, the absentees were only 3,769.
Section 144 was clamped in and around 3,444 examination centres across the state and tight police security was deployed at all examination centres to avoid any showdown or untoward incidents. As many as 60,000 government officers monitored the examinations.
