Tension prevailed at Composite Urdu High School in Fakeernakatte, in Kaup, after Muslim girl students wearing hijab were stopped from writing SSLC preparatory examinations by the headmaster on Tuesday.
A majority of the students had opted not to attend school. Students from eight to tenth standards who had been wearing scarves around their necks for the past few months arrived at the school wearing hijab over their heads which created confusion among the teachers.
The students who had arrived to write the exam were stopped outside the classrooms by the teachers. Soon parents gathered at the school and condemned the school headmaster for preventing girls from writing the examination. The parents alleged that the school was fostering hate.
“The communal harmony in school was lost as the administration had adopted a biased approach to creating a rift among students. All girls had attended Sharada puja wearing hijab. Teachers had no problem then, but, now they are creating problems,” parents alleged.
Meanwhile, students at Maulana Azad English Medium School, located next to Urdu High School, faced similar problems.
Normalcy returned with the intervention of Kaup Tahsildar Srinivasmurthy and students were allowed to write the exam.
Tahsildar Srinivasmurthy said that he had spoken to both the teachers and the parents.
All students were given an opportunity to write their examination and parents were appealed to cooperate.