The ban on hijabs in classrooms in Karnataka has been extended to the teachers and non-teaching staff employees supervising the upcoming Class 12 Pre-University (PU) board exams, Karnataka Minister for Education BC Nagesh said on Tuesday, 19 April.
Speaking to reporters, the minister added that anyone who enters examination halls, including students, teachers, invigilators, and non-teaching staff, will not be allowed to wear hijabs.
This rule will be applicable to all institutions, including private ones, the minister said, and anyone wearing a hijab will be required to remove it to enter the halls.
After the recently-concluded Class 10 Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exams, the PU exams are scheduled to begin on 22 April and go on until 18 May in the state.
As many as 6,84,255 students have enrolled for the examinations, stated an official release from the Department of Pre-University Education. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for smooth conduct of exams amid the possibility of the hijab row resurfacing, the Education Minister said.
A similar order had been issued by the Karnataka government before the SSLC Class 10 board exams began in Karnataka, which began on 28 March. The order had stated that students must strictly adhere to uniforms if their schools or colleges mandate a dress code. At the time, BC Nagesh had said that teachers wearing hijabs would not be allowed to enter exam halls as well.
Last month, hundreds of students who insisted on wearing hijabs to the exam were turned away from exam centres during the SSLC exams.
The education minister had said that no special re-examination can be held for these students, and that they can opt to appear for supplementary examinations. Minister Nagesh had said that the government cannot make an exception for the students who remained absent from the exams because they were protesting against the hijab ban.
The minister claimed that allowing reexamination for the students would “set a bad precedent,” and that students may seek reexams for other reasons in the future.
The Karnataka government had taken action against those violating the dress code for the SSLC exams, including teachers and school managements. In March, seven school officials including five teachers were suspended from a government-aided school in Karnataka’s Gadag for allowing Muslim students to write the SSLC exam while wearing hijabs. Of these, five were invigilators, and they had purportedly allowed five-six hijab-clad students to write the exam.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
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