Barred from schools, hijabi students in Karnataka boycott exam

"I was asked to remove hijab before entering the school. I can't do it, so I chose not to appear in the exam," Hina Kausar, one of the several students in Shivamogga who skipped the exam told ETV Bharat.

Bengaluru: After a five-day break to simmer down the communal tensions over Hijab ban row, schools reopened for students from Class 1 to 10 in Karnataka on Monday. On Tuesday, however, some students of Class 10 boycotted the SSLC preparatory exams because they weren't allowed to attend them with Hijab. SSLC preparatory exams are being conducted in several schools across Karnataka for Class 10 students.

Muslim girls, who wore Hijab to schools, were asked to remove them to be allowed to enter the school. But the students refused, boycotted the preparatory exams and went home. "I was asked to remove hijab before entering the school. I can't do it, so I chose not to appear in the exam," Hina Kausar, one of the several students in Shivamogga who skipped the exam told ETV Bharat.

Parents too were unwilling to send their daughters to schools without Hijab. The mother of a student of Government Urdu School in Pakrinagar, Udupi said, "I'm not sending her to school after a ban on hijab in school. Till now, many from our family have studied in this school wearing hijab. Why is there a sudden change in rules?" Meanwhile, hearing on the Hijab row in Karnataka High Court resumed today at 2:30 pm.