Karnataka Education Minister Says Teachers Insisting On Wearing Hijab, May Skip Exam Duty

The state of Karnataka has been embroiled in controversial statements and sudden regulations, disrupting the academic year for students as well as teachers. In the newest diktat, the teachers were denied the right to wear the hijab while invigilating examinations. First, the state introduced the rule for students, to not wear hijab and wear uniforms and now the same is being enforced on teachers.

The Education Minister for Primary and Secondary Education in Karnataka BC Nagesh said that the state government has given the option to the teachers to either not wear hijab and continue overseeing examinations or skip exam duty.

On Monday, he told the news agency ANI, "We have made uniforms compulsory. It is the moral duty of any teacher to see that they also come how children come to the school. In many schools, children questioned us that we are prohibiting the students from putting hijab but the teachers are putting hijab. So we requested them not to do that because they will be in front of the students in the classroom."

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Hijab Row Teachers Karnataka

He was also quoted saying that most of the teachers have accepted this request to not wear hijab inside the classroom, barring a few. "We have not forced them. We gave them the option that they may come to the exam duty or they may not," he said.

On March 25, the government had issued an order stating that the uniforms need to be followed strictly by students who are writing the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) exam. This notification came in after the Karnataka High Court had given a verdict in favour of the government's demand to enforce uniforms and disallow students coming in hijab.

After this notification, the minister insisted that this will be applicable to teachers as well, who have exams duty for SSLC exams and the Pre-University College (PUC) Class 12 exams, which are scheduled to take place at the end of the month of April.

In March, a day after the SSLC exams began, five teachers in a school in the Gadag district were suspended for allowing students, who were wearing hijab, to appear for the paper. Alongside this, two chief superintendents of the CS Patil Boys and Girls High School were also suspended.