No retakes for Muslim students who missed exams during India hijab protests

The Indian students fighting for their right to wear a hijab in school will not be able to retake the secondary school exams they missed amid heightened protests on the matter.

Protesting students in Karnataka in southern India could not write some secondary school exams, known as the pre-university course in the state in February and March, either because they were not allowed inside the school for wearing a hijab or because they boycotted the tests to protest against the rules.

Though the government had earlier hinted that the students would be allowed to retake these exams, it has now decided not to do so, according to local media reports.

Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh said it would be impossible to provide a second opportunity for these protesting students, according to The Times of India.

“If we allow the students who boycotted the practicals for not being allowed to wear hijab to the exam even after the high court gave its interim order, then another student will come citing some other reason and seek a second chance,” he said.

The exams are held in two parts – theory for 70 marks, and practicals for 30 marks. While the theory exams are yet to be held, practicals were held in February and March.

The controversy that has been simmering for days began on 28 December last year after authorities at the Pre-University College in Udupi prohibited students from wearing the traditional Muslim headscarves inside the classroom.

Six students of the school resisted against the ban by sitting outside the classrooms in their headscarves and subsequently moved the high court seeking relief.

But the issue soon ballooned into a national row pitting students into protests and counter-protests along religious lines, as several colleges across the state imposed a similar ban.

Students who had challenged the ban in court had said wearing the hijab was a fundamental right guaranteed under India’s constitution and was an essential practice of Islam.

However, on 15 March, the court upheld the government’s ban on hijabs. The ruling led activists and citizens to take to social media to say that the order was disappointing and just another example of denying democratic freedoms to Indian Muslims.

A day after the court’s verdict, several Muslim girls in headscarves and burqas were turned away from educational institutions. Students have now approached the country’s top court.

Concerns, however, remain that the protesting students may be alienated from the education system as rights of minorities under Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government remain challenged.