Hijab Row: Bhiwandi college barring student over headscarf is plain wrong
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 IST
A homeopathy student, Fakeha Badami, enrolled at Sai Homeopathic Medical College in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, has been facing trouble from college authorities for wearing hijab. Reportedly, she was first barred from attending college and is now being prevented from appearing for repeater exams because of poor attendance.
According to Fakeha, when she went to college for the first term back in December 2016, she realised that Muslim students were being coerced into removing their hijab.
Subsequently, the ministry of Ayush directed the college to resolve the issue, saying it could not compel a student not to wear the hijab. Even the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences – to which the college is affiliated – clarifying with the state medical education and drugs department whether there was any rule barring Muslim students from wearing hijab concluded that Fakeha should be allowed to attend college. Yet the college did not budge.
It was only when Fakeha approached the high court that the college denied barring her from attending lectures and said it would accommodate her in repeater lectures and exams. But now it is going back on that promise citing technicality. If there are no clear rules regarding students wearing hijab, the college has no business barring Fakeha from attending lectures or sitting for exams. In fact, the clarification from the ministry of Ayush should have been enough in this matter. Yet the college chose to exercise its arbitrary discretion to bar Fakeha.
Religion is a sensitive issue in this country and we don’t follow the French model of secularism that makes a hard separation between religion and state. If a Sikh student can be allowed to attend an educational institute with his or her turban, then there are no valid grounds to bar the Islamic headscarf.
Of course, colleges and universities could mandate a dress code for students. But this should be uniformly applied. However, given the public role that religion plays in this country, such uniformity in attire expunging all religious symbols is extremely difficult to implement, especially at the higher education level.
Thus, colleges would do well not to discriminate between students on the basis of their religious attire. A hijab in no way restricts a student from attending lectures and learning. Instead of obsessing over dress codes, the homeopathy college in question should focus on churning out quality graduates.
Related Topics
Trending News & Articles
Quatrain 75, Century X
Long awaited, he will not take birth in Europe,
India will produce the immorta...
Recently posted . 20K views . 2 min read
Secret's of Alauddin Khilji's sexuality
Several historians argue that the roots of ancient Indian history, especially linked to ...
Recently posted . 8K views . 1 min read
There are various challenging stories about Rani Padmavati otherwise known as Padmini. While from one viewpoint, the Rajputs keep up the holiness of everything iden...
Recently posted . 5K views . 1 min read
The kangaroo is a marsupial. A distinctive characteristic common to marsupials is that, with most, the young are carried around in a pouch. They are mainly found in...
Recently posted . 5K views . 1 min read
More in National
The word tawaif is today used as a profanity. That wasn’t always the case.
Recently posted. 1K views . 0 min read
Goa on India's western coast was freed from Portuguese rule on 19 December 1961, more than four centuries after it was colonised.
Recently posted. 1K views . 0 min read
Amongst the sacred points of pilgrimages of Hinduism one of the most popular regions centre around the fabled birthplace and playground of Sri Krishna known as th...
Recently posted. 2K views . 2 min read
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 3K views
Recently posted . 2K views
The migration of Hindi, in particular, the variant used in parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, is intimately tied up with the history of India itself.
Recently posted. 1K views . 1 min read
If K Asif had made ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ as originally planned, what would it have been like?
Who hasn’t heard of...
Recently posted. 1K views . 3 min read