Hijab-Wearing Students Faced Hostilities In Campus, Ban Affecting Their Education, Says Report
A study that looked into the impact of the Hijab ban in educational institutions in Karnataka has found that students who were wearing headscarves had to face intimidation and hostilities on their campuses.
The interim report prepared by the People¡¯s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)-Karnataka noted that in colleges across the state, Hijab-wearing students were harassed and intimidated by both fellow students and authorities.
Right to education violated
The report titled 'Impact of Hijab Ban in Karnataka Educational Institutions', said the ban is affecting the students' right to education.
"Of all the rights of Muslim women students which were violated by the prohibition of the wearing of the hijab, the starting point of the violation is of the right to education," it said.
According to some students, they were not being given attendance by the authorities. Even if they were on campus, they were not allowed inside.
Scared of going to college
Some students said that police would take videos of students entering or leaving the college premises. This scared them, and ¡°made us feel threatened their own college.¡±?
One student said that after leaving college, she has gone around looking for colleges that allow the hijab. Another student said that because of this, she was now searching for other institutions.?
¡°Government College was free education, but in my new college, I have large travel expenses. I wanted to do my M.Sc., but now I can¡¯t. I felt shattered. I do not want to think about my shattered dreams,¡± she was quoted as saying in the report.
¡°Muslim women are horrified by the space called a classroom. Our respondents told us that they now call each other before going to college and enter in groups alone as it is ¡®very frightening¡¯ to enter campus alone,¡± the report read.
No support from family, community
It also noted that the girls did not get support from their families and the community.
In rural Dakshina Kannada, a student said that there was no minority college nearby, and this would probably result in her dropping out of the course. She also said that her parents would rather let her drop out than move far away for her degree.?
She also said that the few Muslim professors on her campus did not support the students, which can also be due to the risk that it might pose to their job.
Hijab ban case in SC
The report comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Hijab ban in Karnataka government educational institutions.
On Wednesday, a counsel representing one of the petitioners' asked the apex court how a secular administration, allowing others to wear bindi, kada, or cross, could restrict Muslim students' fundamental right to choose wearing Hijab, in addition to prescribed uniforms.
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