Pre-University and degree colleges in Mysuru are set to reopen amidst police security from Wednesday while officials from the Department of Public Instruction said functioning of high schools, which reopened on Monday, was returning to normalcy in the district with no incident of trouble reported from any educational institution.
Deputy Director of Public Instruction Ramachandra Raje Urs told reporters that no high school in the district reported any instance of trouble over the hijab row on Tuesday unlike Monday when a few stray cases had come to light. “All the high schools in the district are functioning normally.”
The 766 high schools in Mysuru had reported an attendance of 86 per cent on Monday. “The attendance for Tuesday is expected to improve.”
He said the heads of the schools and the Block Education Officers (BEO) have been instructed to make the students and their parents aware of the interim order of the Karnataka High Court on uniforms.
Even if a few students come wearing hijabs (headscarves), Mr. Urs said the school staff is not threatening them or turning them away immediately. “Such students are taken to a room and counselled about the court orders. If they are not convinced, we call their parents and counsel them. We are not threatening the students”, Mr Urs said while making a public appeal to the students and the parents to honour the order of the High Court.
Meanwhile, the Pre-Uuniversity Board is taking adequate steps to ensure that the High Court order on uniforms is followed when the colleges reopen on Wednesday.
While Minister for Higher Education C.N. Ashwath Narayan has already made it clear that there is no restriction on wearing of hijab in degree colleges as no uniform is stipulated for students of degree colleges, most of the Pre-University colleges in Mysuru have prescribed uniforms.
Deputy Director of Pre-University Education in Mysuru D.K. Srinivasa Murthy said almost all private colleges in the district have prescribed uniforms. However, out of 77 government pre-university colleges, uniforms are not prescribed in 14 of them.
The College Development Councils of the government pre-university colleges are headed by the respective MLAs and 14 such colleges have not prescribed any uniform.
“So far, there was no issue in Mysuru. Hope, it will a smooth reopening on Wednesday”, Mr. Murthy said.
The Commissioner of Police, Chandragupta, had already imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in a radius of 200 metres from all educational institutions in the city. The ban orders, which came into force from 6 a.m. on February 14, will remain in force till 10 p.m. of February 28.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Mandya district S. Ashwathi held a meeting on Tuesday and directed officials to ensure that the High Court orders on uniform for college students are implemented.
She said there were a total of 160 private and government pre-university colleges in Mandya and uniform was mandatory for all the 28,700 students studying in the. She asked the officials to give no room for outbreak of trouble over the hijab row in the district.
