India

Hijab ban: 7 teachers suspended for allowing Hijab-clad girls to appear for exam

BENGALURU — School authorities have suspended seven teachers for allowing Hijab-clad girls to appear for the Class 10 exam.

The teachers were on the duty at CS Patil girls high school located in Gadag, Karnataka.

Earlier, an invigilator, Noor Fatima was suspended after she refused to take off her hijab while conducting the SSLC (Class 10) exam at KSTV High School.

The action comes after the Karnataka High Court order dismissed petitions seeking direction for permission to wear hijab in classrooms.

The court said the wearing of the hijab was not an essential part of Islam. “The prescription of uniform is constitutional and students can’t object to it”, it added.

Supreme Court refused to give any specific date to hear a plea challenging the Karnataka high court order.

As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for SSLC exams this academic year among which 4,52,732 are boys and 4,21,110 are girl students. Four students belonging to the third gender and 5,307 specially-abled children are also taking exams.

Section 144 was clamped in and around 3,444 examination centers across the state and tight police security was deployed at all examination centers to avoid any showdown or untoward incidents. As many as 60,000 government officers monitored the examinations. — (Agencies)