As Class 10 Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) board exams have begun in Karnataka amid the ongoing hijab row, seven school officials were suspended in Gadag district for allowing Muslim students to write the exam while wearing hijabs. The Karnataka government on March 25 had ordered that uniforms are compulsory while writing the board exam, after the High Court upheld the ban barring students from wearing religious clothing in educational institutions.
Out of the seven school officials suspended from Gadag’s CS Patil Boys and Girls High School, five — SU Hokkala, SM Pattara, SG Godke, SS Gujamagadi and VN Kivudar — are teachers at the school. The other two — KB Bhajantri and BS Honagudi — are chief superintendents of the exam centre, who were in charge of appointing invigilators. They had purportedly allowed five-six students to write the exam while wearing hijab on Monday, March 28. The teachers reportedly welcomed all students writing the exam with roses, and according to The Quint, have said that they allowed the hijab-clad students into the school campus, but not into the exam hall.
Gadag Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI), GM Basavalingappa, has said that the issue came to light when TV reports pointed out that hijab-clad students were being allowed to write the exam. Based on this, the DDPI took the statements of the invigilators and issued the order for the suspension of the officials. They were accused of violating state government guidelines for conducting the exam and The Karnataka Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1966.
The state Department of Primary and Secondary Education had on March 25 issued a circular, which said that students of government schools will have to appear in uniforms prescribed by the government. Private school students (aided and unaided) will have to wear the uniform prescribed by their respective school managements, the circular said. The CS Patil Boys and Girls High School is a government-aided school.