Hijab row: Kerala Edu Minister offers support to girl for getting admission in any other school
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Saturday said the government is ready to help the Muslim girl student, who was barred from wearing a hijab in a Church-run private school in Kochi, to get admission in any other institution where she wishes to join.
A special order will be issued if the student approaches the government with a request for the same, the minister told reporters here.
The announcement by the minister came a day after the student's father had said that he would like to seek admission in some other institution for his daughter.
"So, if the student is interested and she approaches the government, we will take steps to get her admission in any school she wishes to join through a special order," the minister said.
Sivankutty said as per the culture of the state, no student should miss an opportunity for studies due to lack of admission.
He also said the issues have pained the girl and St Rita school management is responsible for any mental stress she undergoes.
The father of the Class VIII student had on Friday said that she would not be sent back to the school.
"My daughter has been under severe stress after the hijab incident. She clearly said she doesn't want to return, so we decided to respect her wishes," he had said.
He said the family had already approached other schools for admission.
Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key ally in the opposition Congress-led UDF, on Saturday came out supporting the stand taken by the general education minister in the hijab row.
IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty termed the decision of the school management to bar the student from wearing hijab as an example of "utmost intolerance".
"It was an unfortunate incident that should not have happened in a state like Kerala," he told a press conference in Malappuram.
He said some vested interests in society were deliberately attempting to create issues and that's why the IUML didn't intervene in the matter so far.
The stand taken by the school management in the matter was "very undesirable" and even their media statements were reflection of intolerance, the veteran leader alleged.
The dispute started after the school recently objected to the girl wearing a hijab, citing its dress code policy. The issue later snowballed into a major controversy, even as Minister Sivankutty backed the girl.
On October 10, the student's parents, along with others, visited the school and questioned the management's stance, following which the institution declared a two-day holiday.
The Kerala High Court had later directed that police protection be provided to the school.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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