A group of students and their parents protested outside the NG Acharya and DK Marathe College in Mumbai’s north eastern Chembur area on Wednesday after the junior college denied entry to students wearing burqas or hijabs over their uniforms.
The college has, this year, introduced uniforms for Class 11 and 12 students. Burqas, hijabs, skull caps and headscarves have been prohibited, said a Class 11 student.
On August 1, the Class 11 student said she was stopped from entering the college gates because she wore a burqa over her uniform. Since that day, the administration has not allowed students to enter the college unless they wear the uniform – for girls, an off-white salwar suit.
“Most of the students in my class are Muslims,” the student said. “When the college introduced uniforms, we agreed to wear them. Our parents only had a conditon that headscarves must be allowed.”
According to Faizan Qureshi, shakha pramukh of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), the students do not mind wearing the uniform. “They have paid the college for the uniform as well,” he said.
A large number of students in the college are residents of the Govandi and Shivaji Nagar slums, where many Muslims live. “If they are not allowed to enter…
Read more