Hijab won’t be allowed during PUC examinations: Education Minister B C Nagesh

Hijab won’t be allowed during PUC examinations: Education Minister B C Nagesh

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Mar 03, 2023: Karnataka School Education Minister B C Nagesh said Friday that students wearing the hijab would not be allowed to appear for the second pre-university course (PUC) examinations scheduled to begin on March 9.

 

“Just like last year, students must wear the uniform and write the examination. Students wearing the hijab will not be allowed to write the exam,” Nagesh said at the launch of a website that aims to make the registration of new schools transparent and efficient.

The Supreme Court said Friday that it would set up a three-judge bench to hear Muslim girls’ plea to sit for examinations in Karnataka government colleges while wearing the hijab.

“I will create a bench,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala when lawyer Shadan Farasat sought an urgent hearing of the plea and said the girls were on the verge of losing another academic year as government schools were not allowing headscarves. The chief justice of India had earlier said the matter would be listed for a hearing after Holi vacations.

The examinations are scheduled to be held after five days, the lawyer said, adding, “They have missed one year. They will miss another year.”

On being told by the bench that the matter had been mentioned on the last day before the vacation, the lawyer said it had been mentioned twice earlier. The apex court then said it would create a bench without specifying a date.

Girl students of minority institutions in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts have requested the government to allow them to wear the hijab in examination halls. An education official from Dakshina Kannada said, “There have been a lot of requests from girls in minority PU colleges who want to wear the hijab in government examination centres. This is because, as minority institutions, there is a provision for them to wear the hijab in class. They want the same provision in examination centres too,” said the official.

A government PU college principal from Bantwal taluk in the same district said, “Muslim girls have been constantly inquiring with me whether the rules have changed with regard to the hijab. They have been asking if the hijab will be allowed in examination centres. However, I have instructed them to maintain the status quo and comply with the uniform rules even in the examination centre.”

Courtesy: Indian Express