AJK schooling division makes hijab necessary for feminine lecturers, college students – Pakistan

Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s schooling division has made hijab obligatory for feminine college students and lecturers in co-education establishments, it emerged on Monday.

A round, obtainable with Daybreak.com, was issued on February 24, with the signatures of a deputy director of AJK’s Directorate Normal of Elementary and Secondary Schooling (Males), which mentioned that “it has been noticed that the feminine college students/lecturers will not be made to put on hijab in establishments the place co-education is practised. Due to this fact, underneath the passed-on directions, feminine college students/lecturers ought to be strictly certain to put on hijab.”

The round warned that in case the directions had been violated, disciplinary proceedings shall be initiated “in opposition to the heads of the establishments involved”.

The round was copied to all three divisional administrators and all 10 district schooling officers on the male facet for endorsement as per guidelines, who had then forwarded the identical to the tutorial establishments of their jurisdiction between March 2 and March 4.

When contacted by Daybreak.com, Deevan Ali Khan Chughtai, the AJK minister for elementary and secondary schooling, confirmed the round and elaborated on the explanations behind it.

“Now we have completed it precisely in observance of the injunctions of God and His Messenger (peace be upon him) […] The ladies have been ordained to put on veils and males have been ordained to decrease their gaze,” he mentioned.

The minister maintained that since in some rural areas, the federal government couldn’t set up separate excessive and better secondary colleges for women, primarily attributable to useful resource constraints and likewise as a result of small variety of lady college students, they might due to this fact be enrolled in academic establishments for boys to review underneath a co-education system.

“Nevertheless, following some complaints by mother and father, we determined to implement a gown code for lecturers and hijab for feminine college students and lecturers,” he added.

Chughtai mentioned initially, the lecturers throughout the state would put on robes for his or her identification and within the second stage, they might additionally need to put on uniforms.

“So far as feminine college students and feminine lecturers in co-ed establishments are involved, the hijab has been made a part of their uniform,” the AJK minister mentioned.

In response to a query, he mentioned that “ideally hijab must also be enforced in universities” however because the college students in varsities are “mature sufficient as in comparison with the adolescent excessive schoolers”, it had been enforced in excessive colleges and better secondary colleges.

“It’s not a compelled resolution. Reasonably now we have taken it in session with mother and father and lecturers. Everybody has accepted it as a result of our society has a visual leaning in the direction of faith,” Chughtai maintained.