{"id":47446,"date":"2022-01-18T10:25:48","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T10:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47446"},"modified":"2022-01-18T10:25:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T10:25:48","slug":"muslim-girls-wearing-hijab-barred-from-attending-classes-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47446","title":{"rendered":"Muslim girls wearing Hijab barred from attending classes in India"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bengaluru, India<\/strong> \u2013 When A H Almas, 18, and two of her friends stepped into their classroom on a December morning, the teacher immediately yelled at them: \u201cGet out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Muslim girls were not allowed to sit in the classroom because they were wearing Hijab, or headscarf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we arrived at the door of the classroom, the teacher said we cannot enter with the Hijab,\u201d Almas told Al Jazeera. \u201cShe asked us to remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, a group of six Muslim students at a government-run women\u2019s college in Udupi district in India\u2019s Karnataka state in the south are forced to sit outside the classroom because the college administration alleges they are defying the rules since Hijab is not part of the uniform.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsThe group meets reporters over the ban on Hijab inside their classrooms at the Udupi college [Al Jazeera]<\/figure>\n

But the girls told Al Jazeera the Hijab is \u201cpart of their faith\u201d and practicing it is \u201ctheir right guaranteed under law\u201d. They have maintained a defiant stance even as the administration has allegedly used \u201cpressure tactics\u201d to coerce them to give in.<\/p>\n

The girls have been marked absent from their classes since December 31 even as they say they are going to the college every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to budge, no way,\u201d Aliya Assadi, who is a part of the group, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

A photo of the students clad in Hijab and college dress while sitting on the steps outside their classroom has gone viral on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because of this photo that our issue got highlighted in the media,\u201d said Assadi.<\/p>\n

\n

Standoff continues at #Udupi<\/a> girls college over the #HijabisOurRight<\/a> issue. 4 Students still not being allowed to enter class.Principal Rudre Gowda has called for parents meet next week. Says rules need to be followed. No exception.@CampusFrontInd<\/a> has supported these students. pic.twitter.com\/VnxgMjBw1h<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Imran Khan (@KeypadGuerilla) January 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Their protest has riled up the college administration which, according to the group, forced them to write a letter accepting they missed the classes by staying home on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to refuse but the principal and the teachers threatened us that they would ruin our careers,\u201d Muskan Zainab, another student, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Zainab said they are happy the \u201cwhole world\u201d has seen them forced to sit outside the classroom, thus making the claims of the administration fall flat.<\/p>\n

However, the students have also faced humiliation and discrimination for their defiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to stay outside the class all day is not a pleasant thing to do. Our teachers and fellow students taunt us. They ask us what our problem is in taking off the Hijab. Why can\u2019t you just follow the rules, they ask,\u201d Almas told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my friends fell sick because of this mental torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GovernmentThe Government Girls Pre-University College in Udupi, Karnataka where the incident happened [Al Jazeera]<\/figure>\n

The students say they are worried about the attendance percentage that is required to be able to sit the annual exams.<\/p>\n

Rudre Gowda, the college principal, told Al Jazeera they cannot allow the students to wear Hijab in classrooms \u201cas it is not part of the uniform\u201d. He said they are abiding by the directives issued by the education ministry.<\/p>\n

Gowda said it was the first time such issues were cropping up in the college, but the alumni said they had faced similar problems in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a teacher made a hijab-wearing student sit on the floor in the middle of the class and stripped her hijab off. We faced a lot of humiliation for choosing to wear the hijab. But at that time, they did permit us inside the classroom,\u201d Athiya, who is currently studying at Manipal University in Karnataka, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

The Hijab ban has sparked a dispute in India with student groups accusing the college administration of bias against Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand firmly with them in absolute solidarity and support. We demand that those in the administration who are stopping Muslim girls from wearing Hijab be suspended and that these girls should be allowed to enter their classrooms with their Hijabs, their self-respect and dignity,\u201d activist Afreen Fatima, secretary of Fraternity Movement in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is Islamophobia. It is apartheid,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsThe protesting students interacting with police and other officials at the college [Al Jazeera]<\/figure>\n

A local lawyers\u2019 association has written to the state government, demanding an investigation against the college administration and teachers for \u201charassing\u201d the students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe denial of education to young Muslim students and forcing them to choose between getting an education and their faith is a human rights issue and must be treated as such,\u201d the association wrote in its letter.<\/p>\n

The Campus Front of India (CFI), an organisation of Muslim students active in southern Indian states, has urged the college to rescind its rules over Hijab and allow the students to wear it while attending classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe girls are demanding their fundamental rights. We are standing with them in this struggle,\u201d Aseel Akram, a CFI member in Udupi told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsThe Muslim students at the office of Campus Front of India in Udupi, Karnataka [Al Jazeera]<\/figure>\n

The student body met the college and university officials to get the issue resolved but Akram said no action has been taken yet. He alleged the college and district authorities are under pressure from the state government to deny the girls their rights.<\/p>\n

Karnataka is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).<\/p>\n

K Raghupati Bhat, a local BJP legislator who also heads a committee in the Udupi college, told the parents of the students in a meeting that the college would continue with its uniform code, irrespective of the religious preferences of the students.<\/p>\n

After the controversy over Hijab erupted in Udupi, students in at least two other colleges in the state, including members of the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), held protests as they donned saffron scarves inside the colleges, demanding a ban on Hijab.<\/p>\n

ABVP is a student group affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the far-right ideological mentor of the BJP with millions of members across India dedicated to their aim of creating an ethnic Hindu state<\/a> in India.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Karnataka has seen a rise in Hindu nationalist activities and the targeting of the state\u2019s religious minorities, mainly Muslims and Christians.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Karnataka state assembly passed legislation that effectively bans religious conversions, with the BJP government alleging that Christian missionary groups were conducting \u201cforceful conversions\u201d<\/a> of Hindus, an allegation rejected by Christian religious leaders.<\/p>\n

Back at the college in Udupi, the girls told Al Jazeera they will continue to assert their rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to budge, no way,\u201d said Assadi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bengaluru, India \u2013 When A H Almas, 18, and two of her friends stepped into their classroom on a December morning, the teacher immediately yelled at them: \u201cGet out.\u201d The Muslim girls were not allowed to sit in the classroom because they were wearing Hijab, or headscarf. \u201cWhen we arrived at the door of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}