Mathews Jacob
October 18, 2025
The subsequent developments reveal that the hijab controversy that has prevailed at St. Rita’s Public School in Palluruthy, Kochi, since October 7, 2025, was not an entirely accidental occurrence, but rather had a significant plan behind it. The initially wavering stance taken by the Kerala Education Minister, his later full alignment as the spokesperson for one side, and the partisan channel debates all underline and confirm this conclusion.
The Education Minister, who had initially stated that unaided minority schools, as per existing court orders, have the freedom to decide their uniform and ensure it is followed, changed his position the next day. His current stance is that the hijab should be allowed in all schools. Furthermore, the school authorities have been informed through the Education Department of a threat to revoke the recognition of St. Rita's Public School if the hijab is not permitted. The school authorities have now approached the court, pointing out that the state Education Department does not have the authority to threaten to revoke the recognition of a CBSE-affiliated school and demand that they abandon the strict uniform regulations that have been followed for 30 years and are adhered to based on a 2018 Kerala High Court ruling. The court has sought an explanation from the government.
The current principal and several teachers at St. Rita's Public School, a convent school, are Christian nuns. The question repeatedly posed by those who ignited this controversy, and later by the state Education Minister who sided with them, is whether it is not unfair for these Christian nuns to wear head coverings to school and simultaneously state that the students are not allowed to wear a head covering. Innocent secularists, or those who pretend to be secularists, who blindly accept this, praise the Minister and clamor for the protection of secularism by allowing the hijab in all schools.
The principals of Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram, have often been priests of the Malankara Catholic Church. The priests of the Bethany division of that church usually wear saffron robes. If a priest of that kind is the principal and a student comes to college wearing a saffron 'mundu' (dhoti), they cannot be questioned according to this logic! This can only be called a very puerile argument.
The question of whether the "innocent" people who ask if the sky will fall if a child wears a headscarf to school, or if it should just be permitted, are truly that innocent, and whether there are some ulterior motives behind this, is pertinent at this juncture. To portray this as a conflict between Islam and Christians is also a distortion. It is as clear as day that political parties are showing an eagerness to muddy the waters, prove that "we are with you," and consolidate the organized vote bank in their favor. The fluctuations in the Education Minister's position are for no other reason.
Those who observe matters closely can clearly see these events as part of an undeclared war between the conservatives and the progressives within the Muslim community. The conservatives desire Muslim girls to lead isolated lives—fully covering their bodies in the traditional, religiously mandated way, with the sense that they are very different from people of other religions, and not engaging in artistic training or physical training like Zumba dance. These are the same people who still cling to regressive ideas that marrying four or five times is their birthright, that women are merely objects of male pleasure, and that saying "Talaq" three times ends a marriage. They are also the ones who insist that if a child is older, she should not come to the stage to receive an award during prize distribution, but that her father should come and collect it.
On the other hand, progressives wish for their girls to cross the religious walls, gain a mainstream education with the consciousness that the sky is the limit, and reach great heights. Half of the students at St. Rita's Public School are Muslim. Girls from this community took admission knowing well that religious attire is not allowed in this school. St. Rita's Public School has operated this way for the past 30 years. Here, students mingle without asking each other's caste or religion, giving no importance to either, beyond religious attire. This is a conscious choice. For a Muslim family in the Kochi area who wishes for their daughter to study in a school without religious segregation, St. Rita's Public School in Palluruthy is one of the few schools they can rely on. The functioning of such schools is unbearable for the conservatives.
Muslim conservatives want St. Rita's Public School in Palluruthy to be like other schools, and they want to somehow sabotage such secular stances and confine all Muslim girls to conservative customs. The conservatives are well aware that if one student starts wearing the hijab, other students will feel compelled to follow suit, and the progressives will not be prepared for a public confrontation or challenge. This is why a student who was studying in a nearby school that allowed the hijab was admitted to this school at the end of June, after the academic year had begun. The child and the parent were used as pawns by the conservatives. At the time of admission, the school authorities informed the child, who arrived wearing a hijab, that it was not allowed here, and both the child and parent agreed to it. This student attended class for about four months wearing the school uniform like the other girls.
It was only when the student suddenly arrived at school wearing a hijab on October 7th that the school authorities realized it was part of a deliberate plan. Naturally, the other Muslim students currently studying at this school became uneasy. The thought that they, too, might now have to come to school wearing a hijab troubled them and their parents. This is why the principal stated that the child wearing the hijab had frightened other children.
Within a one-kilometer radius of St. Rita's Public School, there are 11 other schools where an eighth-grade student can study. Most of the unaided schools among these are run by Christian congregations. Nuns teach in all of these schools. They all allow students to arrive wearing a hijab. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to believe that there was no malicious intent behind shifting a student from such a school and enrolling her in St. Rita's Public School, which strictly enforces its uniform code. Furthermore, for a civilized society, it is essential that at least a few schools like St. Rita's Public School exist as a beacon of hope for parents who wish their children not to study in an atmosphere that prioritizes communal thoughts by wearing religious attire, and who want them to reach the social mainstream.
There are hundreds of Muslim women in the Indian Army, like Colonel Sophia Qureshi, who gave a media explanation during Operation Sindoor. There are Muslim women pilots flying fighter planes in the Indian Air Force. Many Muslim women are passing IAS/IPS examinations with good scores and reaching the mainstream. All this is more than enough to provoke religious fundamentalists and conservatives. What was seen at St. Rita's School, Palluruthy, is an expression of their panicked actions, in a state of desperation. Understand the reality that conservatives will not be able to confine Muslim women in hijabs and burqas, no matter how hard they try. Observing the changes happening worldwide, especially in Saudi Arabia, the sensible thing for these groups to do is to abandon their unattainable beautiful dreams and try to adapt to reality. Convent schools in our country play a large role in giving wings to the dreams of Muslim girls who yearn to become Sophia Qureshis. That is precisely why religious fundamentalists and conservatives have set out to destroy these schools. And lighting the torch for them are the shrewd political clowns!
Comments
Post a Comment