Hijab row: Karnataka govt extends holiday for PU colleges till Feb 15

The Karnataka government has extended till February 15 holidays for pre-university colleges, shut from February 9 following the raging hijab row on several campuses and was slated to open on February 14.

The government has already ordered closure of the degree and diploma colleges till February 16.

In its circular, the government said the decision has been taken as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in the state. According to sources close to Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh, the classes for 9th and 10th will function as usual from February 14.

The row over hijab versus saffron scarves on the high school and college campuses in certain parts of the state had resulted in tension, untoward incidents and even taken a violent turn at some places.

The controversy had started towards the end of December last year when a few women students in hijabs were denied entry into a government pre-university college in Udupi. As a counter, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.

On January 1 this year, six Muslim girl students of the government PU college for women in Udupi attended a press conference in the coastal town held by Campus Front of India (CFI) leaders protesting against the college authorities denying them entry inside classroom wearing hijab (headscarf).

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijabs inside classes which was not allowed. Till then, Muslim students used to wear hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing it.

In its interim order, the Karnataka High Court has restrained all students, regardless of their religion and faith, from wearing saffron shawls (bhagwa), scarfs, hijabs, religious flags or the like within classrooms until further orders.