Burqa-clad girls can enter campus, change in loo: Chembur college amid row | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: A day after protests erupted outside Chembur’s N G Acharya and D K Marathe College for turning away burqa-clad students after a mandatory uniform policy for its junior college came into force on August 1, the institute’s management has now decided to allow students to enter the campus with their burqas and hijabs and take them off in the washroom.

The uniform policy will be strictly imposed from August 8, when all students should be in their uniform on campus, including classrooms, said the management. Burqa-clad girls said they were not stopped at the gate on Thursday. “We were not against wearing the uniform. The college has understood our concerns and allowed us to change in the washroom,” said a student. The college introduced uniforms for class 11 and 12 students from June 15. The new uniform is a cream kurta, blue salwar and vest for girls and cream shirt and blue trousers for boys. While class 11 students are yet to start college, those in class 12 — who wore informal clothes last year — began wearing the uniform.
As girls from the Muslim community wore burqas and hijabs over their uniform, the college had asked them to take them off outside the gate from Tuesday. Students urged the college to allow them to remove their burqas in the washroom. Following protests by students and intervention of police and community leaders, the management has now decided to allow students to enter the campus with their burqas and hijabs and head straight to the washroom to take them off. They can wear it again before leaving the college after lectures end. The first lecture starts at 1pm. In a video message, principal Vidyagauri Lele said while the uniform policy stays, for this year, students will be allowed to enter the campus and take off their burqas and hijabs in the washroom.

She said students will have to be in their uniforms on the campus, including classrooms, laboratories, library, canteen and gymkhana. Senior college students do not have uniforms and are not barred from wearing burqa and hijabs on campus. The suggestion to have uniforms came from teachers and was approved by the governing council and the parents were informed in May. From June 15, students were counselled and announcements were made through the centralised mike system and on WhatsApp groups. Each student was given two uniform sets at a cost of Rs 2,400.