Girl asked to take off hijab in class, govt sources say matter 'amicably resolved'

New Delhi: Several incidents of girl students being denied entry into the classroom for wearing a hijab have now sprung in the Capital too with government authorities yet to take action in the matter after one such incident of a Delhi government school in Mustafabad coming to the fore. However, sources said that the matter had been "amicably resolved".

A class 6 student at the Mustafabad school along with a few of her classmates were asked to take off their scarf at the Senior Secondary Girls school in Tukhmirpur, and unless they did so they would not be allowed to enter the classroom for offline classes.

In a video that has been making the rounds on social media, the student can be seen explaining what transpired in the classroom, describing how she was pulled out of class and asked to remove the hijab.

Speaking to the media the student's father Mohammed Ayyub said that on February 21, his ten-year-old daughter had gone to school and was asked to remove the hijab in front of her entire class. The student was allegedly also taunted by the teacher in front of her classmates.

Another teacher from the same school explained that girls usually take off their hijab in classrooms and that this had been the practice for years. "Nobody forces them but since the matter has been hyped up it is triggering a controversy," she said.

"Earlier, students took off the hijab on their own and even if they were asked to, nobody made a big deal out of it but now everyone is taking it negatively," the teacher added.

The Delhi government is currently looking into the matter and has said that "necessary action will be taken once it is looked into".

Moreover, sources aware of the development said, "The existing practice in all govt schools in Delhi for the past several decades has been that if girls wear hijab or scarf on their way to school, they take it off on entering the school premises, before they go to class. In this case, once the girl entered school premises, her teacher requested her to take off the scarf as per the existing practice. Later the school authorities discussed the matter with her parents and the matter has been amicably resolved."