Not Hijab, But Uniform is Essential in Schools

The Allahabad High Court has rejected a student’s plea seeking permission to wear a hijab with her prescribed school uniform in Prayagraj. The ruling has brought school dress codes, religious freedom and the essential religious practice test back into public debate.

Religion inspires human beings to become better from within. Its true strength lies in faith, morality, self-restraint and inner conviction. To confine the identity of any religion to a particular form of dress or external symbols is to narrow its broad and humane essence. The hijab, too, needs to be viewed from a broader perspective in this context. Several courts have held that the hijab is not an essential part of Islam. Therefore, if a girl student insists on wearing it to school, she is, in a way, challenging the principles of discipline, equality and collective identity.

The Allahabad High Court, by dismissing a petition filed by a student seeking permission to wear the hijab, has established that the school environment places education above individual religious identity. The very concept of a uniform is based on eliminating external distinctions among students and ensuring that everyone appears alike.

The insistence by Muslim girl students on wearing the hijab is not new, but the controversy that arose in Prayagraj is significant because only one student at the school insisted on doing so. Other girls belonging to the same religion were complying with the dress code prescribed by the school. The judgment delivered by the Division Bench of Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Indrajit Shukla on the student’s petition sends a clear message that a piece of clothing and the depth of one’s religion are........

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