Moments after what looked like a Congress-brokered settlement of the hijab row in which the girl's parents agreed to respect the dress code of St Rita's Public School in Ernakulam's Palluruthy, general education minister V Sivankutty has virtually questioned the compromise formula.

As part of the settlement reached earlier in the day between the school management and the father of the girl in the presence of Congress MP Hibi Eden and Congress District Committee president Mohammad Shiyas, the girl will set aside the hijab and fully abide by the dress code of the school. The General Education minister, on the other hand, wanted the school to respect the child's right to wear a hijab.

"The school should allow the student to continue studies wearing the hijab that is part of her faith," the minister said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. "The design and colour of the head cover can be decided by the school," he added. Sivankutty said that strict instructions had been issued to the principal and manager of the school to submit a report before 11 am on Wednesday after "making full amends for the mental trauma inflicted on the student and her parents." 

The minister's stern directive is based on the report of the Deputy Director of Education, Ernakulam. The report had concluded that the school management had made a grave error in punishing the child for wearing a hijab. Earlier, while talking to Onmanorama, a senior Education Department official was uncertain about the future of the deputy director's report, as the father of the girl had agreed to a compromise.

Now, it looks like the General Education minister does not want the matter to be settled as easily. Sivankutty said that the school management's decision to keep an eighth-standard girl out of the classroom for wearing a Muslim head cover (hijab) was contrary to the Right to Freedom of Religion enshrined in the Fundamental Principles of the Constitution.

"No student should suffer such a plight in a state like Kerala that swears by secularism," Sivankutty said. "No educational institution will be allowed to violate Constitutional principles either," he added.