UDUPI: A day after Udupi MLA K Raghupathi Bhat, who is also the president of the development committee at Women’s Government PU College, Udupi, said eight Muslim students who do not want to attend physical classes without wearing headscarves can opt for online classes, the students said they are not ready to accept the 'offer' of attending online classes.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, the students who have been denied entry inside the classrooms for wearing headscarves said they will not attend online classes. ''If we agree to the proposal of attending online classes, it will again lead to discrimination among ourselves (fellow students). Wearing the hijab is our constitutional right. If we cannot get our rights in a government college, we do not expect that from elsewhere,'' said a student, also pointing out that they are studying in the science stream, so since they have to visit the lab, attending online classes will be an impossible task for them.
Regarding other Muslim girls in the same college attending classes without wearing headscarves, they claimed that their other classmates were worried about the mental torture on the eight students, so to avoid that, they agreed not to wear hijab inside the classroom though it is against their wish.
The students said education was important for them, but following their religious beliefs and customs was also equally important. ''Moreover, to sit in the classroom without headscarves is not comfortable for us. We too have ambition to come up in life, we are not adamant but we are seeking the rights bestowed on us by the constitution," said one of the students.