A controversy erupted in Maharashtra after some parents raised objections over students being prohibited from wearing tilak or sacred threads and a civic notice was issued¹.

Policy Implications

At first glance, the issue appears to pit education and religion against each other. While the school has clarified that no fatwa was issued², the very act of serving a notice—and the attention it has drawn—invites us to reflect on its wider policy implications.

This news not only raises questions about the present but also evokes memories of similar controversies in the past. Education and religion have often been flashpoints in India. The Right to Freedom of Religion and the Right to Education are both constitutionally guaranteed, yet they frequently struggle to coexist in harmony. The current debate concerns the wearing of tilak and the sacred thread, while earlier, Karnataka witnessed a heated controversy over the Hijab.

The broader policy challenge lies in creating a framework where education and religion can meaningfully coexist, without forcing individuals to choose one over the other. Episodes like these also bring into focus the debate on the Uniform Civil Code, and the urgent question of how to ensure that faith and education can thrive together in a diverse democracy like India.