Hundreds of Muslim female students, who were not allowed to attend their practical exams with their hijab will not be allowed to sit for a re-exam, the Karnataka government has announced.
The practical examinations for the Karnataka 2nd PUC Exams 2022 were scheduled to take place in February and March. However, during this time, Muslim students were not allowed to take these exams wearing hijab, owing to the court order, that effectively bans the wearing of hijab by Muslim girl students in educational institutions in Karnataka.
The government decided to mark the students ‘absent’ for missing their practical exams.
Many of the students had refused to remove their hijabs and missed exams with the hopes that the courts would provide some relief to the hijab-wearing students with a ruling in their favour.
However, they were let down when the Karnataka HC upheld the State government order against the wearing of headscarves. This led to demands to hold re-exams for students who skipped the exams, which the state has now rejected.
“How can we even consider the possibility? If we allow the students who boycotted the practicals because they were not allowed to wear hijab to the exam despite the interim order issued by the high court, another student will come citing some other reason and seeking a second chance. It is impossible,” Hindustan Times quoted BC Nagesh, the Primary and Secondary Education Minister as saying.
