DPS row: Banning female teachers from wearing abaya is serious issue, says J-K’s Education Minister

Akhtar, who is also the spokesperson of the J-K government, was responding in the J-K assembly after independent legislator Engineer Rashid raised the issue during the Zero Hour.

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A female teacher working at DPS in Srinagar resigned after the school management told her to “choose between her job and Abaya”. After the resignation of the teacher, the students of the premier school boycotted their classes and examson Friday seeking an apology from the school management. The students also demanded that school should recall the female teacher.

The students say the Principal of the school told then that the school is “following the rule” and that the school law says “no female teacher can wear Abaya inside the campus during the working hours”.

Education minister Akhtar said that the government would get to the truth of the matter. “It (DPS) is a Private school. We will get to the truth of it (issue of banning Abaya),” said. “We believe the management (of the school) is sensitive to the issues here”.

While the government tried to firefight, the separatists have said the ban on wearing of Abaya at the school is tantamount to “interference in religion”. “Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority state and to raise objections on wearing of an Islamic dress here could have serious consequences,” said senior separatist leader and Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani. “There is no moral justification for it. The school should offer an unconditional apology and ensure that such a mistake is not repeated again”. The Hurriyat leader said that the school should not do the mistake of ignoring the sensitivity of the issue.

Mutahida Majlis Ulema (MMU), an amalgam of religious organizations headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that said “un-Islamic and anti-Muslim measures would not be tolerated”. The school administration didn’t respond despite repeated attempts.