Headscarf row: 'Maintain status quo on dress code'

PU Education Undersecretary, Padmini S N, has directed the DDPU of Udupi to maintain the status quo on the uniform guidelines in the Government Women PU College in the backdrop of the Hijab controversy.

Padmini has said there is a need for a high-level committee to be set up and decisions can be taken only after the recommendations are made by the committee. Hence, the status quo should be maintained in the dress code.

She has referred to a letter written by Karnataka State Minorities Commission Chairman Abdul Azeem demanding for considering the female students request in her instructions.

There is a need to study the verdicts given by the Supreme Court and other high courts of the states to study the dress code in PU colleges, she said.

There is no compulsion for PU students in the state to wear uniforms. However, the girls who are demanding the right to wear headscarves had taken the admission agreeing to the dress code or uniform restriction put forth by the college administration. Even after accepting the dress code during the admission, the girls are unnecessarily creating confusion which is not healthy for the educational environment, she added.

Australian govt stamp

The headscarf controversy involving the girls from Government Women PU College is attracting attention worldwide and is encountering severe criticism all over.

In the midst of the controversy, a stamp released by the Australian government last year, honouring the frontline workers, which has the image of a woman wearing a Hijab is going viral on social media. The stamp is of Australian $1.1 value.

Netizens are claiming that Australia has respected the service of the woman with Hijab, while in India the students are sent out of classes for wearing the headscarf.