VIJAYAWADA: The hijab row has reached Vijayawada with the principal of the famous Andhra Loyola College, Fr Dr GAP Kishore SJ, stopping two Muslim girl students from entering the campus as they were wearing their ‘traditional’ attire. Andhra Loyola College is a minority institution and has its own rules and regulations. The management clearly explains the same to the students before admission.
Kishore, however, said he had only asked the two girls to attend classes in the college uniform after removing their hijab at the girls’ waiting hall, which was a practice followed over the years. The issue did not go out of hand with the immediate intervention of the district administration and the police. The students were later allowed to attend classes in burqa.
According to Kishore, he was on a routine round immediately after commencement of the classes when he found three girl students, two of them were Muslims, in their traditional dresses and another girl student waiting outside a classroom as they were late by 10 minutes.
A statement from the college read: “The principal asked the two Muslim girls to go to the girls’ waiting room to get changed and return to the class in the regular college uniform.’’ The college administration said it has a prescribed uniform for male and female students.
“It is a usual practice that Muslim girl students who come to the campus in their traditional dresses, attend classes in the college uniform,’’ the principal said. He also stated that all the students, while taking admission, sign a code of conduct that states that they will abide by the college rules and regulations, including the dress code.
When the girls were asked to change their traditional dress, they told that their parents would object to them attending classes without burqa. The principal asked them to bring their parents for counselling but they returned in 15 minutes with an individual.
When the person was also told about the college rules, they went away and returned 30 minutes later with mediapersons and outsiders who questioned the college authorities as to why the students were not allowed in their traditional dress. However, district collector J Nivas, CP Kanti Rana Tata and education department officials enquired over the issue and advised the principal to allow the girls to attend classes in their traditional dress. They were escorted to their classes by the police.
The girls, Patan Sadikunnisa and Shaik Reshma, who are final year BSc students, claimed that they had been coming to the college wearing hijab since their first year.
“Why are they objecting today? We don’t understand,” Reshma said. “Even my identity card has my photograph with me in a hijab,” she pointed out. Sadikunnisa’s family members said they received a call from her after she was prevented from entering the campus wearing a hijab. “It’s about our dignity, right and tradition. How can the college management now prevent her from entering the campus wearing a burqa ?’’ they said.
The family alleged that the principal remarked whether the students wanted to do what the students in Karnataka did. A faculty member, on the condition of anonymity, said the girls came to the class with a scarf on Wednesday, but were wearing burqa on Thursday.
An ex-student, S Anjali, said the college management introduced its dress code almost a decade ago to develop uniformity among the students. “When I was a student of the college, my Muslim friends used to come in their traditional dress. But after entering the campus they would remove it in the girls’ restroom and enter the classes in college uniform.’’