Row over college banning scarves

Jul 15, 2012 - Gururaj Paniyadi |

Mangalore

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The decision of a college to ban hijab or headscarf, worn by Muslim women, has turned into a raging controversy, with over a hundred Muslim students protesting in front of the Sri Ramakunjeshwara First Grade College at Ramakunja village, about 60 km from Mangalore.

In all 39 girl and 65 boy students from the Muslim community have been protested in front of the college on Saturday.

The parents of these students now have decided to approach the High Court and bring the issue to the notice of the deputy commissioner and education department.

College authorities allegedly forced girls wearing headscarf out of the class on Thursday. These students along with others started an immediate protest.

Though the Muslim students have been asking the authorities to allow hijab at college for a long time, Muslim representatives said that the girls with hijab are not allowed to even board the college bus.
“On Thursday, one of the teachers asked girls wearing the headscarf to go out of the class.

The management has declared that it will not allow students into the college till they agree to wear the uniform and come to the college without hijab,” a degree student in the college told Deccan Chronicle.

“We asked the college authorities to allow us to wear the shawl, which is part of the school uniform, as headscarf. But the authorities would not allow even that,” she added.

“The discrimination is so high that the girls are not allowed to wear the hijab in the college bus too. They have to either remove the scarf before boarding the bus or walk a long distance to the college or take a rickshaw,” Mohammed Thufeil, brother of a student in the college, said.

The students who protested on Thursday and Friday were denied entry into the college on Saturday.

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