Farheen Fatima has withdrawn from the school.
AB Wire
NEW DELHI: St. Joseph’s Inter College, an ICSE Board exam school in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, has raised controversy by barring a female 9th grade student from attending class because she wore a hijab. The student has since then pulled out from the school and is seeking admission elsewhere.
The District Magistrate Raj Shekhar has ordered an inquiry into the incident by the Additional City Magistrate and District Inspector of Schools, and sought a joint report by May 19.
Anil Agarwal, the managing director of the school, said that the school had a dress code, reported the Indian Express.
“If somebody wants to wear a religious dress, they should seek admission in a madrasa or some such school,†he said.
The incident came to light when the mother of the student Farheen Fatima, sent a protest letter on her daughter being barred from attending classes.
The school responded Friday by saying that allowing Farheen to enter the school with a hijab “would not be appropriate and granting such permission might lead to more issues in the near future.â€
Farheen’s family, meanwhile, has withdrawn her from the school and is looking for admission elsewhere in the city.
In her letter to the District Magistrate, the mother of the student Fatima Waqar, from Thakurganj in Lucknow, alleged that her daughter was admitted to Class IX at St Joseph’s Inter College on May 6 after “fulfilling all admission criteriaâ€.
“On May 7, she was stopped from attending class and told she could not wear a hijab if she wished to proceed. But Farheen had been wearing a hijab during the entire admission process, even her admission letter has a photo of her wearing the headscarf,†Fatima wrote.
Farheen’s brother-in-law Shadab Waheed — her father died two years ago — said that before her admission was finalized, she was interviewed by the principal, “who did not object to the scarfâ€, reported the Express.
“On May 6, we submitted the fees and the admission was finalized. On May 7, she went to school and was asked to remove her headscarf. She replied that she could not do so since she was from a religious family. They made her sit in the library till classes got over,†he alleged.
In a statement submitted to the District Magistrate on Friday, the school’s founder-manager Pushplata Agarwal said that “at the time of admission, the parents had not stated that their child would study with a hijab…the student was told that she can come to the school with a hijab but will have to remove it and keep it at an earmarked place and that she cannot wear a hijab inside the classroom.â€