Hijab row: Karnataka schools, colleges to remain closed for 3 days

Taking to Twitter, CM Basavaraj S Bommai appealed to all the students, teachers and management of schools and colleges as well as people of Karnataka to maintain peace and harmony.

Amid the obgoing hijab controversy, Karnataka government on Tuesday announced that all schools and institutions would be closed for the next three days. Taking to Twitter, CM Basavaraj S Bommai appealed to all the students, teachers and management of schools and colleges as well as people of Karnataka to maintain peace and harmony. He asked 'all concerned are requested to cooperate'.

The case was heard by the Karnataka High Court, which deferred it until Wednesday. The court also requested students and the general public to keep the peace. The Karnataka High Court has begun hearings on the state's hijab controversy, despite a demonstration outside a college campus between students wearing hijab and saffron shawls.

The hijab protests began last month at the Government Girls PU College in Udupi, when six students said they were banned from class because they insisted on wearing the hijab. Right-wing organisations in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru were outraged when Muslim girls wore the hijab to school. 

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A group of Muslim girls is asking that they be allowed to wear hijabs to college, while the state administration has cracked the whip, making uniforms mandatory for students enrolled in educational institutions. Several incidents have occurred in the previous few days, particularly in coastal Karnataka, when Muslim girl students wearing hijab were not permitted into schools, while Hindu boys and girls wearing saffron shawls were also prevented from classes.