Karnataka extends college holidays, seeks report on ‘school namaz’ video

The court has banned all kinds of religious attire till a judgment is passed in the case. Pre-university students are scheduled to have their final exams from April 16. The colleges have remained shut since February 9 after the hijab row erupted. The higher education department has announced the closure of all first-grade and postgraduate colleges as well as universities and technical institutes till February 16.

The police held flag marches in the communally sensitive twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi after a couple of incidents were reported.

Education department officials visited a school in Ankathadka in Dakshina Kannada after a video emerged of students purportedly offering the Friday namaz in a classroom there on February 4. A department official said the students offered Friday prayers without the knowledge of their teachers. According to sources, the students started praying in classrooms after the school authorities turned down their request for more recess time on Fridays to visit mosques.

Police were deployed in front of a school in Bengaluru on Saturday after a teacher allegedly used derogatory terms referring to a section of students in context to hijab row.

Block Education Officer Lokesh C said a report had been sought on the issue and that action would be initiated. The teachers have now directed the students not to engage in any religious activities inside classrooms.

In Bengaluru, a private school teacher was suspended for allegedly making derogatory remarks about religious clothing. As people gathered in front of the school on Saturday morning, one of the parents, Shahabuddin, told reporters that the hijab was not an issue in the state capital. “This school has about 80 per cent Muslim students, and there is no divide between Hindus and Muslims. But a teacher used derogatory language while referring to a section of students, which prompted us to come to the school. It has been solved.”

S Rajendra, deputy director of public instruction for Bengaluru South, visited the school along with police.

Meanwhile, Udupi BJP MLA Raghupathi Bhat claimed that he had received threat calls from local numbers and international numbers of unidentified people after the hijab ban snowballed into a controversy. Bhat is the president of the college development monitoring committee of Government Girls Pre-University College of Udupi, where the controversy started. He said he had informed Home Minister Araga Jnanendra of the calls.