IS HIJAB an essential practice in Islam? Does the student’s right to wear one over-ride the school uniform code? These questions are now being contested in the High Court, with the Supreme Court watching.

But one trend is unquestioned: as with girls of other faiths, there has been a steady increase in the number of Muslim girls going to schools and colleges in Karnataka — and, indeed, across the country.

Their numbers, as a share of their population, are still lower than that of non-Muslims but the uptick is significant and steady, show several government surveys.
Between 2007-08 and 2017-18, the Gross Attendance Ratio (GAR) of Muslim women in higher education in India increased from 6.7 per cent to 13.5 per cent, according to a unit-level data analysis of the 64th and 75th rounds of the National Sample Survey (NSS) by Khalid Khan of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies.
GAR, in this context, is the ratio of Muslim women aged 18-23 years attending colleges to the total number of Muslim women in that age cohort. Incidentally, the GAR of Hindu women in higher education was 13.4 per cent in 2007-08 and went up to 24.3 per cent in 2017-18.
In Karnataka, where a ban has been imposed on hijab — and upheld by the court in an interim order — in government educational institutions, GAR of Muslim women in higher education rose from a low of 1.1 per cent in 2007-08 to as high as 15.8 per cent in 2017-18, data shows.
A review of school data also shows that more girls from the community are accessing education today than ever.
According to Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data on elementary and secondary education, nationally, the share of Muslim enrolment to total enrolment of girls in upper primary (Class 5 to 8) has risen from 13.30 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.54. In Karnataka, it rose from 15.16 per cent to 15.81 per cent.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/steady-uptick-in-muslim-girls-going-to-schools-colleges-7769897/