Hijab controversy: Poor turnout of Muslim students for 2nd PU preparatory, degree odd semester examinations

The 2nd PU commerce stream students had accountancy paper while the science stream students had mathematics paper on March 17

Following the call to close down operation of businesses to express anguish over the High Court’s decision in the hijab case, many Muslim students did not turn up for the 2nd PU preparatory and the odd semester internal degree examinations in Dakshina Kannada district on March 17.

“Our 18 schools and a degree college were closed on March 17,” said Haji Abdul Rasheed, president of Sayyid Madani Dargah in Ullal. “Our three PU colleges were open in the light of the 2nd PU preparatory examinations that commenced on March 17. Only a few students from our community appeared for the exams in two PU colleges, except in Hazarat Women PU College, where 27 of 30 students appeared for the examination,” he said.

The 2nd PU commerce stream students had accountancy paper while the science stream students had mathematics paper on March 17. The 2nd PU preparatory examination will go on till March 25. Internal examinations for odd semesters of all degree courses also started on March 17.

At Bharath PU College in Masthikatte in Ullal, which was closed since February 25 following the hijab row, only five of the 24 commerce students turned up for the examination. “We had told girl students that they can write exams by covering their head with a black veil, which is part of the uniform. Despite this, five Muslim girls failed to turn up. These five are among the 19 students who were absent on March 17,” Principal P. Kalavathi told The Hindu.

There was a poor turnout of students at the Government PU College in Mudipu, which is an old PU college in Dakshina Kannada and a majority of students are Muslims. Of the 326 commerce and science stream students in the college, only 124 students turned up. Of this, 96 wrote the accountancy paper while 28 wrote the mathematics paper.

“Majority of the absentees were Muslim boys. Few girls wrote the paper by complying with the college dress code,” said a member of the college staff. The college held classes for first PU students in the afternoon for which many students had turned up.

At the Government PU College for Girls in Car Street, Mangaluru, of the 14 PU students, five were absent for the preparatory examination.