In Kodagu, some schools see drop in attendance
The Deputy Director of Public Instruction in Mandya on Monday clarified that no diktat has been issued to Muslim teachers in the district to remove hijab and burqa before entering schools as being speculated after a video surfaced on social media showing a teacher taking off the head scarf and burqa outside her school in Mandya town.
DDPI Jaware Gowda told The Hindu that Muslim teachers are free to wear hijab and burqa and no directions on not wearing them in schools have been issued to them.
“One of the teachers hurriedly took off her hijab and burqa on her own while entering the school on Monday when there was no such order. Her reaction was perhaps due to the presence of media. The school also has three more Urdu teachers and all three of them went to the school wearing hijab and burqa. It was an isolated incident as the reopening of high schools across Mandya has been smooth,” the DDPI said.
Absenteeism
Meanwhile, some schools in Kodagu have reported non-attendance of Muslim girls amidst the row over dress code as high schools reopened on Monday.
“There have been reports of some children staying away from the schools. We don’t have the numbers but some schools have reported absenteeism,” said Kodagu DDPI Vedamurthi.
He, however, clarified that no child went back home from school as the reopening was smooth barring one private school at Kottamudi in Kodagu district where most children had come wearing hijab.
