A school in Karimganj in Assam had made hijab compulsory for its girl students. AB Hannan, the principal at East Point Public School in Karimganj, informed on Facebook that he has made it compulsory for girl students to wear hijab. He said that he has taken this decision to protect his students from ‘evil eyes’, and to improve their personality.
In the Facebook post with grammatical errors, he wrote, “to protect my students from evil eyes and as a part of best personality of girls today I made compulsory wearing Hijab for my all girls students at East Point Public School, Karimganj”.
Hannan also posted a photograph of girl students in school wearing hijab on their uniforms.
It may be noted that in his Facebook profile, Hannan’s profile says he works at the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. But his bio of the same account describes him as IAS/ACS aspirant. Moreover, his Instagram account mentions that he is the principal at the East Point Public School in Karimganj. His updates and images on his Facebook account also reveal that he works at the school in Karimganj, not with the Government of India.
Hijab is compulsory as per Islamic Sharia rules in several Muslim countries, where women are punished if found without Hijab in public places. In several such countries, like Iran, women are trying to break free of this rule, where many women have gone to jail by willingly breaking this rule.
It is not known whether all students in the school are Muslim or are there non-Muslim students also.
Hijab is a veil mandated by Islam, it is mainly worn by Muslim women. In Islamic countries where it is mandatory, it is worn by all women living in such countries. In that context, it is worrying that Hijab has been made mandatory for students in a school in India.
