Kerala school hijab row: HC seeks govt stand

Fri, 17 October 2025

20:02

The Kerala high curt on Friday sought the state government's stand on a church-run school's plea challenging an education department directive to permit a Muslim girl to attend classes wearing her religious headscarf or 'hijab'.

Justice VG Arun directed the government lawyer to come with instructions regarding the averments in the school's petition, which has also challenged the department's notice, which stated there was "serious malfunctioning" at the institute -- St Rita's Public School at Palluruthy in Kochi.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 24.

During the brief hearing, the school sought an interim stay on the department's notice permitting the girl to wear a 'hijab'.

However, the court declined to pass any orders saying that no coercive steps would be taken against the institution by the government as it was a CBSE school, a lawyer associated with the case said.

In its petition, the school has contended that "the individual rights of a student cannot override or be imposed upon the larger interest, discipline, and uniform regulations of an educational institution". -- PTI

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