In a major political and legal reversal, the Karnataka government has withdrawn the controversial 2022 uniform order that had effectively led to restrictions onhijabs in educational institutionsacross the state. The fresh directive issued by the Congress-led Siddaramaiah government now allows students to wear religious and customary symbols, including hijabs, turbans and sacred threads, along with prescribed school uniforms, provided faces remain visible for identification purposes.
The move has once again brought national attention to the Karnataka hijab controversy, a dispute that began as a local classroom disagreement in coastal Karnataka before snowballing into one of India’s biggest debates around religion, education, constitutional rights and secularism.
Issued under the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, the new government directive formally revokes the February 5, 2022 order that had sparked nationwide political uproar and prolonged legal battles over the wearing of hijabs in educational institutions.
“No student shall be denied entry to an educational institution, classroom, examination hall, or academic activities merely because they are wearing such limited traditional and customary symbols along with the prescribed uniform,” the order stated.
The controversy began in late 2021 and escalated sharply in early 2022 after a group of Muslim students at a government pre-university college in Udupi alleged they were denied entry into classrooms because they wore hijabs. The students argued that the hijab was an important part of their religious identity and that they had previously been allowed to attend classes wearing it.
As the issue gained attention, similar incidents began surfacing in other colleges across Karnataka. In several places, Hindu students arrived wearing saffron shawls in protest against allowing hijabs inside classrooms, turning the dispute into a larger communal and political flashpoint. Videos and images of students chanting slogans and confronting each other quickly spread across social media, intensifying tensions nationwide.
What started as a dispute over dress codes soon evolved into a wider ideological battle involving religious freedom, constitutional rights, uniformity in schools and identity politics.
Amid escalating protests, the BJP government led by then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai issued a government order on February 5, 2022 under the Karnataka Education Act, 1983. The order directed educational institutions to strictly enforce prescribed uniforms and stated that students could not wear clothing that disrupted “equality, integrity and public order.”
Although the order did not specifically mention the word “hijab,” it effectively enabled schools and colleges to prohibit headscarves if they were deemed inconsistent with uniform rules.
The order soon resulted in Muslim students being denied classroom entry in multiple institutions, particularly in coastal Karnataka districts such as Udupi and Shivamogga.
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