‘Meant Niqab, Not Hijab’: J&K Army-Run School on Dress Code Restrictions for Teachers

While the original circular issued by the school instructed teachers not to wear hijab, a revised circular changing ‘hijab’ to ‘niqab’ was issued two days later.

New Delhi: A circular issued by an Army-run school in Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Monday, April 25, kicked up a storm online and among local leaders for telling the school’s teachers not to wear a hijab during school hours. 

However, on Wednesday, the school issued a revised circular in which it replaced the word ‘hijab’ (headscarf) with ‘niqab’ (a veil covering a woman’s entire face, except the eyes). 

The circular was issued by the Dagger Parivar School Baramulla, which was set up by the Indian Army in conjunction with the Indrani Balan Foundation, a Pune-based philanthropic organisation.

According to news agency PTI, the April 25 circular told teachers not to wear hijab “so that students can feel comfortable and are forthcoming to interact with teachers and staff”.

While the move echoes the months-long row over the hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka, the Army was quick to issue a clarification on why the school’s staff were told not to wear niqab during the school day.

Speaking to the Indian Express, Army spokesperson Emron Musavi that the Dagger Parivar school is an institution for differently-abled children, including Deaf children.

“They have to teach the phonetics using facial gestures. If a teacher is wearing niqab, how would she teach, what would the children see?” the newspaper quoted Musavi as saying, adding that the circular was only meant for teachers.

Despite the school and the Army’s clarifications, it was the April 25 circular which made the rounds on Twitter, prompting a strong reaction from several Kashmiri opposition leaders.

Mehbooba Mufti, president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), condemned the letter, saying that while Jammu and Kashmir is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is not like other states where “they bulldoze the houses of minorities and not allow them the freedom to dress as they want.”

Similarly, Omar Abdullah, vice-president of the National Conference, told reporters that the government should not interfere with an individual’s right to follow their religion and hoped that its “effort to bring Karnataka to J&K is stopped”.

At a meeting of the youth National Conference, Abdullah reportedly also noted that the issue extended beyond the hijab, raising the topics of the bans on halal meat as well as the row surrounding azan being played on loudspeakers at mosques.

Politicians and Hindutva activists, including C.T. Ravi, the BJP’s national general secretary, said that halal meat is part of the “economic jihad” he accused the Muslim community of perpetuating, calling for Hindus to stop buying meat from Muslim vendors.

The azan row was triggered by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Raj Thackeray when he issued an ‘ultimatum’ to mosques in Maharashtra, telling them to stop playing azan on loudspeakers by May 3, failing which he and his party workers would blare the Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers to drown out the sound.

Thackeray’s comments triggered a larger row in the state, leading to clashes between supporters of the Shiv Sena, part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the state, and opposition leaders.

Also read: ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ Row: Rana Couple Sent to Judicial Custody; Sena Workers Held For Protests

“Don’t they use mics in temples? Don’t they use mics in gurdwaras? They do. But you don’t like only our mic,’ the Express quoted Abdullah as saying. He went on to say that the erstwhile state acceded to a secular India, not where one religion would be given primacy and other suppressed.

“If that would have been told to us, perhaps our decision would have been something else,” Abdullah said.

(With PTI inputs.)