Hijab rule: Muslim girls switch to minority-run edu campuses

MANGALURU: The strict implementation of the no-hijab rule in classrooms has a section of Muslim girls studying in government or aided and unaided schools quit and join private schools run by Muslim minority organisations that permit the hijab.
Officials in the department of public instruction denied that this could be a trend and said the number of Muslim girls moving to minority-run schools was insignificant. Heads in several institutions that TOI spoke to said that they had come across such cases after the hijab row snowballed in Karnataka.
For example, a Class 7 girl who lives in Vamanjoor and was studying in a school near Pacchanady quit the institution and joined a Muslim minority-run school in Gurpur Kaikamba. “We had planned to continue the education in the same school after class 7. There was no restriction on wearing the hijab in that school. However, as the row snowballed, we decided her to get admitted to a Muslim minority school so the child will not be affected till she completes high school,” a relative said.
A head of a government school near Manjanady said that two Muslim girls had taken transfer certificates from the school.
The school does not allow the hijab inside classrooms.
One of the girls said she moved to another school for personal reasons. The second girl moved to a Muslim minority school as her uncle was unhappy she was not allowed to wear the hijab in class. “The uncle has promised to pay the fee in the private school, she informed us,” said the school head.
The majority of the Muslim minority schools told TOI that their admissions had increased in all classes. Mohammed Asif Suralpadi, the president of the Adarsh Group of Educational institutions at Mijar-Thodar, said that Muslim parents were now on the lookout for minority schools. “While numbers in school have seen a slight increase compared to the previous academic year, the demand in PUCs is high. Admission to PUCs has increased. It is because parents want schools that allow their girls to wear the hijab as well as have prayer rooms. Also, we have deputed extra vehicles to Ulaibettu and Mularpatna as the highest students admitted to PUC are there,” he said.
Mohammed Iqbal, the principal of Badriya High School in Bunder, said that soon after the hijab row, there were a lot of queries but only a handful of those turned into admissions from other schools.