Denied Permission To Write Karnataka PUC Exams Wearing Hijab, Two Students Walk Out Of Examination Centre

According to reports,the two female students—Aliya Assadi and Resham had collected their hall tickets and turned up donning burqas to take the exams at the Vidyodaya PU College in Udupi.

Udupi: Hijab row petitioners Aliya Assadi and Resham were on Friday not allowed to write their 2nd PUC exam in Udupi after they insisted on taking their exams wearing burqas(veils). According to reports, the two had collected their hall tickets and turned up donning burqas to take the exams at the Vidyodaya PU College in Udupi. They tried to convince the invigilators and the college principal for around 45 minutes but were eventually not allowed any exception to the court order upholding the state government’s ban. They were then seen quietly leaving the premises without taking the exams.

Udupi | Two students, who are fighting a legal battle for the hijab, leave the PUC examination centre after they were allegedly not permitted to take the exam wearing hijab#Karnataka pic.twitter.com/9NgVmqzGVM

— ANI (@ANI) April 22, 2022

In an order, the education department had said that students appearing for the PUC exam as well as teachers posted on exam duty cannot wear hijab or any attire of religious identity.

Earlier, six students from Udupi, who had approached the Karnataka High Court seeking permission to enter classrooms wearing hijab, had asked the education department that they be permitted to appear for the exam in hijab. But the state government had declined their request citing the high court ruling that had upheld the uniform rule.

PU exams began in Karnataka on Friday with 6,84,255 students registering to appear. The exam will go on till May 18. The first paper was Business Studies. Over 6.84 lakh students will write the exam at 1,076 centres across the state.