Triggering fresh controversy over ‘hijab’, a four-year-old nursery girl in Assam was asked to stop wearing traditional Islamic headscarf or face expulsion.
This incident took place at a Catholic Mission-run Kristo Jyoti School, near Bokakhat where the authorities refused to allow Muslim girl Fathima Bibi to wear ‘hijab’ along with school uniform.
Fatima’s parents were served a 15-day notice by the school authorities. It said, “Either abide by rules or don’t send your child to school.” After that the family moved the Guwahati High Court.
“We were compelled to move court because we need to educate our daughter and take her forward in life,” Alee said.
However, the school’s principal is very clear in what the school believes in. “Uniform is to inculcate sense of equality. No high, no low, no rich, no poor. It is also meant to inculcate discipline,” Father Jose Verghese principal Kristo Jyoti said.
The fear is that the individual right of a 4-year-old child wearing hijab to her school that could have been a non-issue, could be hijacked by different interest groups.