BENGALURU, May 14 -- The Congress government in Karnataka on Wednesday issued orders allowing students to wear limited traditional and faith-based attire such as hijabs and turbans along with their prescribed uniforms in schools and pre-university colleges across the state. The new directive, issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, revoked a controversial 2022 order issued by the previous BJP government that in effect barred the wearing of hijabs in schools and colleges. The order stated that students could not be compelled either to wear or remove religious or traditional symbols permitted under the order, underlining that educational institutions were spaces intended to promote "scientific temper, rationality, equality, dignity, fraternity, discipline, mutual respect, social harmony, and the responsibilities of our constitutional democracy." The directive specifically listed "Peta/Turban, Janivara/Sacred thread, Shivadaara, Rudrakshi, Headscarf (Hijab)" among the permissible symbols. It added that "secularism in a constitutional sense is not an opposition to personal beliefs; rather, it is the giving of equal respect to all, institutional impartiality, and non-discriminatory behaviour." The controversy first emerged in January 2022 at a government pre-university college in Udupi, where a group of Muslim students said they had been barred from classrooms because they wore hijabs. Similar disputes soon surfaced in other districts, triggering demonstrations by students both supporting and opposing the use of such headscarves. The state government issued an order on February 5, 2022 directing students to followuniforms prescribed by educational institutions. In places where no official uniform existed, students were instructed to wear clothing consistent with "equality, integrity and public order." "Upon re-examining this matter, the government is of the opinion that discipline and institution's order can be maintained without restricting such limited traditional and practice-based symbols," current order said....