K'taka Minister justifies decision to allow hijab for KEA exams

Rithu Dravid | NT

Bengaluru: Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar has justified the state government's decision to allow female Muslim students to wear hijab during the Karnataka Exam Authority (KEA) recruitment exams with specific guidelines, asserting that the exams are for recruitments.

“The exams held at KEA are recruitment qualifying exams. The exams are purely for graduates seeking jobs in MSIL, Labour department, Keonics among others,” the minister told News Trail adding that these examinations will be conducted for 670 vacancies in five government-run corporations, including Keonics, Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies Corporation among others.

The examinations will be held on October 28 and 29 as per the KEA mandate. The Minister also asserted that the examinations were all recruitment-based and had nothing to do with college exams.

“The hijab controversy was concerning school and college exams. Students wearing hijab and appearing for such recruitment exams will have nothing to do with any hijab controversy or dispute. The students taking up the qualifying exams are all graduates seeking jobs. Even NEET candidates are allowed to wear hijab during exams,” he asserted.

For the smooth conduct of exams, the board has recently released an order regarding the dress code of Muslim students. According to the guidelines, hijab wearers are not allowed for the exams with certain items which include embroidered clothing, flowers, brooches, long sleeves, and jeans.

Hijab wearers are also required to arrive an hour early for additional screening to curb malpractice. The hijab ban row erupted in 2021 during BJP rule in the state and a legal battle followed.

The battle began when an Udupi college barred hijab-clad students from entering classrooms which immediately attracted the attention of the entire nation. In 2022, the BJP government in Karnataka banned students from wearing hijab to government educational institutes.

The Karnataka High Court upheld the prohibition in March 2022, stating that the hijab was not a necessary component of religious practice. Subsequently, in 2022, the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict following which the issue is likely to be heard by a larger bench of the top court.

Now the Higher Education Minister has announced that female Muslim students are allowed to wear hijab during the recruitment exams contending that it had nothing to do with school or college exams.