It has been more than three weeks now that eight Muslim students in Karnataka’s Udupi district have not been allowed to enter their classroom after they protested against a hijab ban imposed by their college. In an interview with the Indian Express, Rudre Gowda, the principal of the Government Women’s Pre-University College said the ban was being imposed on the students to maintain uniformity. Initially, there were more students who were a part of the group that protested the hijab ban, but some of them reportedly gave in after they were told that they wouldn’t receive their exam hall tickets.

The college does not have any policy or guidelines which state that the students cannot wear a hijab, but the principal said that it has been something the college has followed for the last 37 years, ever since its inception in 1985.