Senior schools reopen in India's Karnataka amid hijab row

Hijab wearing schoolgirls arrive to attend their classes as a policewoman stands guard outside a government girls school after the recent hijab ban, in Udupi town in the southern state of Karnataka, India, February 16, 2022. REUTERS/Sunil Kataria

UDUPI, India (Reuters) - Senior schools reopened in the Indian state of Karnataka on Wednesday a week after authorities closed them in the face of protests against a ban on female students wearing the hijab Muslim head covering.

A court is deliberating the recent ban on school girls wearing the hijab imposed by Karnataka authorities, the latest issue of contention involving India's Muslim minority, who make up about 13% of the Hindu-majority country's 1.35 billion people.