A Church-run school in Ernakulam, Kerala, shut down for two days after protests escalated against the school's refusal to allow a Muslim student to wear a hijab. The Kerala High Court has now granted police protection to the CBSE-affiliated St Rita’s Public School in Palluruthy, after the matter was raised in court on Monday.
The row began after a class 8 student was denied entry to class after she came wearing a hijab on October 7. School authorities had stopped the girl, saying that the hijab violated the school’s dress code, and the girl was made to remove it. The hijab is a scarf that covers the hair, neck, and ears.
The school management had also sought a written explanation from the guardians of the student.
On October 10, however, the student's guardians, along with six other persons, barged into the school premises and manhandled security. Meanwhile, another group of people had assembled outside the school gates and protested with slogans, according to a report in Bar and Bench.
In the petition to the court, the school had said that the it functioned entirely in a secular manner since its inception.
The management said that the protest occurred right when pre-kindergarten students arrived at the school, which resulted in “panic and emotional distress among the small children, many of whom began crying.”
They wrote that the incident disrupted regular school activities.
According to Principal Sr Heleena, the student had followed the prescribed uniform for four months. "But one fine morning, she came flaunting the uniform code. We asked her to remove the hijab in a loving way, and she complied. The next day, her mother came to school and we informed her that the student had to follow the rules and regulations,” she said.
She also said that the child came once again on October 10th without following the uniform policy. “Then we called the parents. Her father came with a few others; they started shouting and started a live video. They spoke in abusive language while classes were in session,” Sr Heleena told the media.
The student’s father, Aziz however, insists that their daughter went to school with a scarf for four months. “For the last four months, she went to school with a scarf. But she hadn’t pinned it like a hijab. Her mother has gone to the school several times to discuss the rule. When I went to speak with the principal, the PTA president and others spoke to me very sternly,” he said.
The matter will be taken up by the court next on November 10, and police protection for the school will be in effect till then.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Shon George has criticized Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the controversy. He said that the CM’s stance was the reason behind the row and said that he should remember that Kerala is not an Islamic state.
The BJP also went after the Congress. Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the incident was “100 per cent orchestrated. This is testing the political culture and societal makeup of Kerala. This is political posturing and backed by Congress and forced embedded.”
The Parent-Teacher Association also got involved and brought in another layer of politics. PTA President, Joshi Kaithavalappil, who spoke to the NDTV, said that the parents of the student were backed by the Social Democratic Party of India, a political party that is seen as pro-Islamic. "SDPI workers are behind it. Their party members came to enforce it... (and) they put more pressure on the school than the parents," he said. |
