Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Thursday ordered that students wearing hijab and saffron shawls are not allowed in schools and stated that an educational institution is “not a place for religious observance”.
“School is not for religious practice, children don’t go to schools to practice their religion. Students should go to school thinking they’re children of Bharat Mata (Mother India). There are temples, churches, mosques for prayers and religious worship, where we are free to do anything. But inside a school compound, there should not be hijab or saffron shawls,” Jnanendra said
The home minister reacted to over 100 Hindu students wearing saffron shawls to oppose Muslim girls wearing hijab at a government pre-university college in Kundapur on Wednesday.
“There are religious organizations that seem to have different ideas when it comes to India’s unity. Jnanendra said, adding, “I have asked the police to watch them.”
For more than a month, eight Muslim students in Udupi government women’s PU college have been protesting for their “right” to attend class wearing headscarves.
He argued that the education minister has already said that there is a prescribed uniform that students should follow. Students of all religions should study with the feeling that they’re children of the same mother.”
