K’tka Edu Minister claims Muslim students increased after hijab ban, report says otherwise

Bengaluru: Despite the reports on the decreased number of Muslim girl students’ appearances for public examinations in Karnataka, BC Nagesh, State Minister for Education, claimed that there has been an increase in the number of Muslim students appearing for exams since the hijab ban.

He also said that no student would be allowed inside exam centres with their hijab on.

"More Muslim sisters appeared for exams after the hijab ban, and there are now more Muslim girl students enrolled," he said.

The News Minute earlier reported, quoting Muslim Okkoota, a coalition of Muslim organisations in Udupi that there were at least 183 pre-university students, who could not appear for the exams wearing their headscarves in 2021.

Many Muslim parents in Udupi had shifted their children to other private universities after the controversial hijab ban was implemented in the state. Some families also began considering relocating to a new town.

The Supreme Court on Friday had said that it will set up a three-member bench to hear the pleas but did not give a date. PUC final exams in Karnataka are scheduled to take place from March 9, the students are at risk of losing a year if the decision from the Supreme Court does not come before that.

Students of a government-run pre-university college in Udupi had earlier filed a case against a rule which prohibited hijab-wearing Muslim girl students from entering their college classrooms.

The Karnataka High Court upheld the government rule on uniforms while rejecting pleas by students. the students' pleas in this matter. The hijab is not an essential part of Isla, the court had ruled.

The dispute in the Udupi college began in December 2021 and made international headlines in January 2022 when Muslim students were photographed outside their classrooms missing classes for wearing the hijab.