A view of the Karnataka examination authority at Malleshwaram in Bengaluru on April 24, 2026. The move comes weeks after three students at a college in Koramangala were asked by authorities to remove their janivara (sacred thread) before entering the examination hall during the Common Entrance Test (CET) on April 24. | Photo credit: The Hindu
Honey Bangarappa | Photo credit: file photo
The Karnataka government on Wednesday withdrew the 2022 regulation on uniforms and dress in educational institutions and replaced it with a new regulation that allows students to wear “limited” traditional and religious symbols along with prescribed uniforms in schools and colleges across the state, School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa announced.
The May 13 order overturns the previous BJP government’s order of February 5, 2022, which required students to wear prescribed uniforms and became the basis for restrictions that later sparked the hijab row.
However, Mr. Bangarappa did not directly say that the “hijab ban” had been lifted. “The government has withdrawn the earlier regulation and replaced it with one that specifically allows limited faith-based symbols, including sacred threads, headscarves and uniforms,” the minister said.
The decision comes weeks after an incident reported on April 24 during the Common Entrance Test (CET) where three students of a college in Koramangala, Bengaluru, were asked by authorities to remove their ‘janivars’ (sacred threads) before entering the examination hall.
The Minister said that schools and colleges are not only places for academic education but also spaces where students should also learn constitutional values like equality, dignity, brotherhood, discipline, mutual respect, rational thinking and scientific temperament.
Educational institutions must promote a secular outlook, he said, adding that secularism does not mean contradicting individual beliefs. Instead, it meant equal respect for all religions and traditions, institutional neutrality and non-discriminatory treatment of students.
Mr. Bangarappa said, “Since the implementation of the 2022 regulation, we have been concerned about students wearing faith-based symbols such as the ‘janivara’ or headscarf. After reviewing the issue, we have concluded that institutional discipline can be maintained without restrictions on such symbols as long as they do not interfere with student identification, safety, teaching or public order.”
The order also states that the government reviewed the dress code followed in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools before laying down the revised guidelines.
Published – 13 May 2026 20:02 IST
