Refusing to let girls go to school in hijab horrifying: Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai. Pic/ AFP

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai expressed her views on Monday on students wearing hijab not being allowed in colleges in Karnataka. "Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying," tweeted the girls' education activist.

The hijab protests began last month at the Government Girls PU College in Karnataka's Udupi when six students alleged that they had been barred from classes for insisting on wearing the headscarf. Right-wing groups in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru objected to Muslim girls wearing the hijab to class.

Yousafzai, tweeted, "Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying. Objectification of women persists - for wearing less or more. Indian leaders must stop the marginalisation of Muslim women."

The controversy has also spread to BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh where school education minister Inder Singh Parmar said that since hijab is not part of the uniform it should be banned.

As protests for and against hijab intensified in different parts of Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday declared a holiday for high schools and colleges in the state for the next three days.