Hijab row: Karnataka high schools reopen, High Court to hear on hijab ban today

Bengaluru: High schools in Karnataka reopened on Monday after being shut from last Wednesday following untoward incidents in parts of the State over the hijab row. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed in sensitive areas in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, and Bengaluru.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday expressed confidence that peace and normalcy will prevail. He had also said that a decision regarding reopening of Pre-University and Degree colleges will be taken after assessing the situation. The government on Friday said that the holiday announced to universities belonging to the department of Higher Education and colleges under the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education (DCTE), in the wake of the raging Hijab row, has been extended till February 16.

The Karnataka High Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the Hijab row, had earlier requested the state government to reopen educational institutions and restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, Hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

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On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing hijab. This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijabs in classes which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear the hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college principal Rudre Gowda had said.

"The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces," Rudre Gowda had said.