Hijab Verdict: Will try to win hearts of 'misguided' Muslim girl students, says education minister

Bengaluru: With the Karnataka High Court upholding the state government's decision on restrictions on hijab inside classrooms, the Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh on Tuesday said we will try to win the hearts of the 'misguided' Muslim girls who are against the move, and 'bring them in the mainstream of education'.

He also said the shortcomings in the Karnataka Education Act-1983, especially the one related to the school uniform, will be rectified. "We will try to win the hearts of those girls who were 'misguided'. We will try to bring them in the mainstream of education," Nagesh told reporters. He was reacting to the High Court order which said hijab (headscarf) was not an essential religious practice in Islam.

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"I have faith that the girls will come to the college and continue their education because the people of Karnataka neither speak against the court verdict nor go against it. I believe that these girls were misguided. They will be 'all right' in the coming days," he added.

On the anomalies in the KEA-1983, he said, "Based on the judgment, the Karnataka government will try to rectify the certain confusions in the KEA."

According to him, school uniforms help in instilling patriotic feeling. "We all knew for many years that school Uniform helps in instilling patriotic feeling. We will make uniform mandatory to make students realise that they are the children of the nation," Nagesh said.

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Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra too welcomed the High Court order upholding the government order regarding the mandatory school uniform. "Everyone should abide by the HC order. Maintaining the law and order is everyone's responsibility," he said.

Jnanendra added that the police have taken all kinds of precautionary measures to avoid any untoward incident in the wake of the High Court order.

The Karnataka High Court today dismissed petitions filed by some girl students studying in two Government Pre-University colleges in Udupi district, seeking permission to wear Hijab inside classrooms. The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, a three-judge bench of the court further noted.

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The bench also maintained that the government has power to issue impugned government order dated February 5, 2022 and no case is made out for its invalidation. By the said order, the state government had banned wearing clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public order in schools and colleges.