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Indian School Principal Bans Burkhas
HYDERABAD, India, July 20 (News Agencies) - A Hindu principal of an Urdu medium government college near the southern Indian city of Hyderabad has asked eighty of her students to remove their burkhas (Islamic veil) before entering the college premises, The Deccan Chronicle reported Friday.
According to the newspaper, principal J. Nagalaxmi of the DIET College, reportedly told first year students that they will not be promoted to second year if they do not follow her orders. Senior students have been warned that they will be denied the principal's sanction for special rate bus passes if they fail to comply.
"When we were in the first year, madam [principal] had told us to discard the burkha. However, we continued wearing it in the first year. Having failed to deter us she is refusing to sign our bus passes," said a second year student.
"She wants us to have our passport photographs taken without a burkha," she added.
Nagalaxmi states her reason for the demands is that she wants to protect her students from the heat. "There are no fans in the classrooms. How can they bear the heat? I want them to concentrate while in the class," she said. This, despite the fact that a multitude of women around India and throughout the world, sometimes in extreme weather conditions, wear the burkha without experiencing any problems.
Parents of all first-year students have been called by the college and told that their daughters must stop wearing the burkha.
One first-year student said, "My parents agreed, but only for removing the face veil and not the entire burkha. However, madam wants us to remove the entire burkha. We do not understand the logic behind this demand."
Senior students also complained that they were barred from using the college washrooms last year when they refused to follow the principal's orders. Others have stated that they would not participate in physical training exercises without their burkhas, since male students are also present.
Nagalaxmi says that she considers the burkha a hindrance during physical training. "Moreover, last year a burkha-clad girl had impersonated her colleague while writing the practical exam last year. Therefore as head of the college, I enforced this code of conduct," she said.
About 50% of Hyderabad's population are Muslim. Thousands of Muslim female students have been wearing burkhas in both public and private educational institutions, even those run by Christian missionaries, without any problems in the past.
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