Headscarf: Minor issue gaining prominence

Mangaluru/Udupi: The highly emotive issue of some girl students of the Muslim community wearing headscarves to school in the coast region has now entered a tricky phase. So far, only fringe groups like the NSUI, Hindu Jagarana Vedike (HJV) and Campus Front of India have been keeping the religiously-charged issue alive, year after year. Soon, the big boys from the BJP, Congress, Social Democratic Party of India and Popular Front of India may show up, feel the school and college authorities in Udupi and a few pockets along the coast.

What once showed up as an isolated incident has now assumed a critical mass that is baffling the school and college managements all over the coast, particularly in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada. The Hindu fringe groups are adamant that the school uniform norms are violated if girls wear a hijab to school. “We should also be allowed to wear religious symbols to school,” Hindu Jagarana Vedike activists have told the school administration in Udupi. “This will have statewide repercussions in all private and government schools and colleges. Either you dismantle the school uniforms norm or strictly adhere to it. Do not treat us as second-class citizens by extending special privileges to Muslim girls,” the HJV Mangaluru division general secretary Prakash Kukkehalli told News Trail.

The first incident of a tussle over the religious symbolism issue cropped up in 2009 in Uppinangady in Puttur taluk (55 kms from Mangaluru). It later spread to Mangaluru and Buntwal, where only one or two Muslim girl students questioned the management decision to impose uniform norms for Muslim girl students. They, however, either stopped coming to schools or gave up wearing religious dresses. But in recent times, the protests against the uniform dress code are becoming more pronounced and more vocal leading to unrest in campuses around the district.

Suhela, a student of Ramakunja Composite College in Puttur taluk, was vehement in her argument that she be allowed to wear religious dress in school. “We do respect the school uniform and wear it, but all we are asking is to allow the minor addition of a headscarf for Muslim students as our parents and elders insist that we wear the Burkha to school.

“Since a uniform dress code was already in place at school when they admitted us, they have allowed us to wear it. But they do not allow us to school without the headscarf at least. In our community it is compulsory for women and girls to cover their heads with a scarf. In some homes, elders do not allow girl children to go out without it. So if we are not permitted to wear a headscarf, we may have to discontinue studies,” she asserted.

The strength of Muslim students in schools as well as colleges was on the increase in recent times. Muslim Educational Institutes Federation and Minorities Guidance Forum together run over 120 institutions right from kindergarten to professional colleges. They claim that the importance of general and professional education has now been firmly embedded into the family ethos of the community. As a result, more and more girl students have been joining schools and colleges not just run by the community institutions but also by other communities. The Federation has organised family sensitisation programmes for parents from time to time in the last few years to convince them that educating their children, especially the girl child, is an important aspect of overall development. As a result, an equal number of boys and girls from the Muslim community are getting educated in all streams of education and also getting placements in both government as well as private organisations.

It is not that the HJV activists are against Muslim girl students wearing the hijab. Only, they want that school and college managements allow them the privilege too. “Many of us also want to identify with our religion. Either we too be permitted our symbolic attire, or let the authorities cancel the uniform dress rule altogether,” one argued.