While St Aloysius Pre-University College in Mangalore has banned wearing of burqas in classrooms and examination halls, students in Mysore felt that such a burqa should not be implemented in any college.
In any case, no college in Mysore has banned burqas in colleges. Kritika Bharadwaj, a final-year BBM student of Vidya Vardhaka College, says for every individual, the religious practices and culture is important and there’s nothing wrong in wearing a burqa. If college authorities think burqa will help malpractice in examination halls, it’s the responsibility of invigilators to keep a keen eye on students wearing burqas, she said, adding: “My friends sometime attend college wearing burqas and sometimes they don’t wear it but our college doesn’t have a problem with it.”
“Many girls wear modern dresses which is not our culture, but why they are not banning it,” asked Fathima Afra, a I BCom student of St Philomena’s College. Many girls remove the burqas when in college but very few wear them in class. Invigilators in exam halls can tally the faces and photos on hall tickets before girls enter the hall, she said. She says if colleges ban burqas, many girls from very orthodox families will stop coming to college.
Sujan A, a III year BBM student, says just for the sake of exams and for identification, no one has the right to hurt anybody’s religious sentiments. Banning of wearing burqas in classrooms doesn’t make any sense. If colleges are facing difficulty in monitoring students in exam halls, then they can ban it,” said Swaraj Sarkar, III mechanical engineering student of Vidya Vardhaka Engineering College.
However deputy director of public instruction H Krishnaiah said as per rules wearing burqa in examination halls is not allowed as it causes identification problem but no pre-university college in Mysore has banned burqas in colleges. “So far we haven’t seen any girl wearing burqas at exams,” he added.
Marimallappa’s Pre-University College principal ME Shankarappa said, “Girls in our college don’t wear burqas. But if they wear burqas to exam halls, we will deploy a lady faculty member to verify their identity.”
—Source: TOI