‘Hijab is my pride, dignity’: Girls in India fight to wear headscarf to school

‘It may take long but I will wear my hijab and go inside the classroom’

Muslim women demonstrate in Paris in 2019 after a far-right politician asked a woman accompanying her son and other children on a school trip to remove her headscarf. The right to wear the hijab is now an issue for pupils at a school in south India (AFP/Getty)

For the past couple of months a group of Muslim girls at a government-run high school in the southern Indian state of Karnataka ghave been locked in a bitter stand-off with the administration over their right to wear the hijab – a fight they have now taken to the court.

Simmering for days, the dispute between the students and the authorities at the Pre-University College in Udupi first began on 28 December last year, when the students attended the classroom wearing traditional Muslim headscarves.

“When we entered the classroom, the teachers started scolding us,” recalls 17-year-old Zoya Ahmad*, a grade 12 student at the college. “They went and complained to the principal that we were wearing hijab.”

While the principal allowed them to attend the first day, he told them to call their parents, Zoya tells The Independent.

“Our parents also requested them [to allow us to wear] the headscarf,” says Shabana Ruksar*, 17, one of the protesting students. “Not once but many times. They did not listen.”

And on 1 February, Zoya and seven of her friends were again denied permission to enter their classroom while wearing the hijab.

The controversy also lingers over the lack of clarity surrounding uniforms in government-run colleges in the state. The state’s department of undergraduate education does not mandate uniforms for its colleges, reported The Indian Express, adding that individual colleges have come up with their own rules.

To resolve the issue, the Karnataka government has set up an expert committee which will review judgments in the Supreme Court and various state high courts regarding a dress code, said the government in a 25 January order.

Until then, the students will be required to wear the uniforms as mandated by their institutions, reported The News Minute. The government has, however, not set up a timeline for the committee to submit its report.

While PU College authorities maintain that wearing a hijab is inconsistent with the institution’s uniform code, the students tell The Independent that it is an important part of their identity and the rule violates their right to practice their religion guaranteed under the Indian constitution.

“In Islam, it’s very important to wear the headscarves,” says Zoya. “We cannot show our head to other men … We cannot show our hair to others. It is our duty to wear hijab. Hijab is my pride and dignity,” she adds.

“This is also my constitutional right,” says Shabana. “India being a secular country, even I have the right to practice my religion.”

She says that the battle for their right has become like a “mental torture” as she accused Raghupathi Bhat, a local legislator from Narendra Modi’s Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of threatening them.

“The first thing we are worried about is our education because they are not letting us inside the class,” says Shabana, who aspires to become a wildlife photographer. “Mentally, we are disturbed.”

Mr Bhat claims that the college has had a uniform since 1985, adding that while the girls are allowed with a hijab inside the compound, they have to take it off in the classroom.

“There are 75 other Muslim girls who are studying in the college and since 1985, everyone is following [the dress code]. These girls are in the second year but for one and a half years [when in the 11th standard], they have also attended the school without wearing a hijab,” he tells The Independent.

“We do not have a problem with them wearing hijab outside, even in the college compound. But inside the classroom, there is equality in the uniform of Hindus, Muslims and Christians,” says Mr Bhat, adding, “the meaning of uniform is that it is equal for everyone”.

The girls’ lawyer, Mohammed Tahir, tells The Independent: “In practice, there is no law in Karnataka which says there should be uniform in Pre-University College for 11th and 12th standard.

“And there is a guideline from the PU College department as well for the year 2021-2022. It clearly states that there cannot be a uniform for PU Colleges. And if any authority or college tries to impose the uniform, they are liable for action,” he says.

Mr Bhat claims that the constitution allows institutions to mandate uniforms. “They have not read the constitution properly,” he says. “They are allowed to wear hijab publicly and in their private places. But inside institutions, they have some discipline and they have to follow that.”

Before joining the college the girls knew that the hijab is not a part of their uniform, he adds. “Now because of outside provocation, they are doing this,” he says, without clarifying what the source of the provocation might be.

“We have 1,000 other girls, who are disciplined, including 75 Muslim girls. They are studying here still. You please hear from them,” he says, responding to allegations of communal bias.

Meanwhile, the college development committee, headed by Mr Bhat, has suggested that the students opt for online classes until the issue is resolved by the BJP state government.

However, the girls have declined the school’s offer, calling it discriminatory. “How can they hold online classes for only eight students?” asks Zoya. “When others are attending offline classes, why should we take them online? It is complete discrimination.”

The students have also moved the Karnataka High Court seeking interim relief. In a plea filed on Friday, they asked the court to direct the authorities to allow them “to attend classes with their headscarf without any bias and discrimination”.

They also demanded that the students be provided with attendance on all days when they were forced to leave the class.

The girls are confident that their demands will be heard. “It may take however long but I will wear my hijab and go inside the classroom,” says Zoya.

*The names of the girls have been changed at the request of their lawyer to protect their identity. A representative image has been used in this story for the same reason