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Hijab Controversy in India- A Dent on Education Right of Muslim Girls
For decades Western European nations are struggling to decide whether headscarves or Islamic attire should be banned or tolerated. Now, India is dealing with the same question. India is home to the world’s second-largest Muslim population which is 200 million as approximately a combined population of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. The current ruling of the Karnataka high court to uphold the ban of Muslim headscarves impacted the sentiments of such a huge population.
Current Situation
Hijab has become a topic of fierce debate in India. It all started when six hijab-clad girls were barred from entering classrooms of a government-run college at Udupi district of Karnataka state in India.
Now the situation is that even once together Hindu classmates are in opposition and chanting slogans for banning headscarves in classrooms.
TV news channels are promoting the issue with prime time debates with hashtags like #NoHijabDay and #HijabAmbushPlot. At many places of Karnataka, stone pelting is witnessed and even students from Delhi, West Bengal and Maharashtra have taken to the streets to protest against the hijab ban. All these incidents are creating a furore for religious hostility.
The issue went to the high court of Karnataka and the court upheld the ban of wearing headscarves in schools and colleges. The court says that wearing hijab or headscarves are not an essential part of Muslim religious practice and it is essential to promote equality and follow the dress code at such educational institutions.
The Karnataka high court says that curbs on wearing headscarves in educational institutions are reasonable under article 25 of the Indian Constitution.
The Karnataka High Court also rejected the contention that the right to free expression of Muslim women is violated with a ban on hijab.
The Court noted that the right of free expression of a person can be curtailed for qualified public places like schools, courts, defence places as a necessity of maintaining decorum, discipline, function and purpose. It says that uniforms do not discriminate among the students.
This verdict has likely to impact political, communal and judicial trajectories in India.
A Contradictory Comparison
Now, comparisons are being made between the Sabarimala judgement of the Supreme Court and the Hijab ban by the Karnataka High Court.
In 2019, the Supreme Court of India dismissed the Kerala High Court ban on the entrance of menstruating women to enter Sabarimala temple with the justification that it is against the right of worship of women and allowed all women and girls to enter the Sabarimala temple without any discrimination.
Appeals to the Supreme Court of India are now inevitable.
Impact on Society
Hijab ban violates the International Human Rights Law, which gives freedom to express one’s religious beliefs, freedom of expression and right to education. Likewise, forcing any woman or girl to wear a religious identity is against international law.
Banning on hijab can marginalize Muslim women and can expose them to heightened violence at home and in society. It can support the mindset of those people who consider girls’ education as a causal factor of evils in society.
The Hindu students are now started to come to educational institutes with saffron shawls in opposition to Muslim headscarves. Divisive communal scenes become common at education hubs where this communal hatred rarely even took place in the past.
Also Read: Will India Ban Hijab in Educational Institutions?
Students are now identifying their classmates more as Hindu or Muslim rather than their once fellow. It is creating an environment of hatred and enmity among students which is detrimental for the growth of progressive minds.
How a mind full of such futile issues of societal dogmas and backwardness can invest in ideas and innovative thought processes.
We barely see these students engaging in such divisive tactics. Secularism and brotherhood have always been the foundation and common practice preached and practised at such places. After all, students are the torch bearers of our society and its development.
Education Scenario Among Muslims
A marked improvement of Muslim girls’ education can be witnessed with these data of the Government of India which can be reversed with such discouraging acts.
It is a right concern as many parents might not allow their daughters to go for further studies as they might prioritize the hijab over education or may be concerned for their daughters’ security and do not allow them to step out from their houses. This would be a direct attack on worsening the education situation of Muslim girls where in India already the literary rate of Muslims is low that is 59.1 per cent below the national average. Muslims have the highest number of illiterates in India.
Also Read: What’s Happening to the Muslims of India?
The literacy numbers among the Muslim minority community are already discouraging and further inhibiting the educational environment would only make such a huge population less productive and less participative towards national growth.
International Response
The hijab controversy also caught international attention with tweets and responses from Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai to the US ambassador and coverage in international media like BBC and Aljazeera.
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel prize winner and a proponent for girls’ education, asks India to do something for girls’ right to education as girls are now being asked to choose between hijab or studies. She tweeted “Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying. Objectification of women persists — for wearing less or more. Indian leaders must stop the marginalisation of Muslim women.”
The US ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom says that the ban on hijab would stigmatize and marginalize Muslim women and girls in India. Religious rights also include one’s choice of religious attire.
Muslim minority communities also fear that a ban on hijab violates the religious rights granted to them under the Indian Constitution.
Urgent Need for a Responsible Action
The government needs to keep its words and promise of “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” which means “save and educate girls”.
It is the constitutional duty and responsibility of the Indian government to come ahead and let the Muslim hijab-wearing girls have their education in peace. Education by no means should be degraded to any citizen of India under any circumstances. Education, at any rate, is far more important as a basic right of any citizen than other issues of dress and identity.
Also Read: Indian Education System: Chapter and Verse
Otherwise, Muslim girls would have to struggle to make life choices without the right to education and freedom of expression under the already prevalent patriarchal mindset in society.
I hope the surge of women and particularly Muslim women towards their basic rights, dignified life and freedom to excel in life would continue as they are not ready to look back.