A recent video from Kerala has gone viral, showing burqa-clad female students sitting apart from male students behind a partition wall inside a classroom, sparking widespread anger and debate. The footage reignited concerns over increasing gender segregation in educational spaces across the state.

In the viral clip, female students in burqas can be seen seated on one side and male students on the other, separated by a mid-height barrier. A male teacher, dressed in traditional clothing and wearing a skull cap, is seen delivering a lecture amid purple-themed decorations. Many social-media users described the visuals as a “stark reminder of growing Islamist influence in Kerala.”

This controversy surfaced soon after similar visuals from a Profcon event—reportedly organised by Islamist groups at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT)—came under fire. Those clips depicted hijab-clad female students seated separately from men under Taliban-style segregation, with men in front rows and women placed behind a makeshift cloth curtain, completely blocking visibility between both groups.

According to reports, the on-campus debate was held on 15 September 2025 under the banner of the “Wisdom Islamic Organization,” affiliated with the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahid movement. Ironically, the debate’s topic was “Religion, Science and Morality.”

The visible separation of Muslim women from Muslim men triggered heated social-media discussions, questioning whether Kerala is sliding toward radical Islamisation and whether institutionalised gender discrimination is taking root in a state long praised for its progressiveness and near-total literacy.

Toppers but Faceless — A Disturbing Indicator of Kerala’s Direction

At Al-Ihsan Academy School and Women’s College, Kerala, a hoarding displaying photographs of academic toppers shocked viewers: female toppers appeared faceless. This unsettling visual raised a sharp question—where is Kerala heading?

Observers note that Kerala has, over the years, seen a marked spread of Wahhabi Islamic orthodoxy. The transformation has been driven by certain Islamist organisations and foreign funding from Gulf countries seeking to Islamise India’s secular fabric. Reports from 2021 indicated that radical Islamic groups worldwide were financing projects promoting Islamism in India.

Kerala-based journalist M. P. Basheer revealed that Jamaat-e-Islami was allegedly receiving financial grants from Saudi Arabian universities to promote Islamic dress codes in Kerala and other Indian states. The organisation had reportedly launched a project funded by King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, to encourage women to adopt “Islamic” attire.

Further investigations suggested that even Turkey and Pakistan have been active in funding radical Islamic thought in India, especially in Kashmir and Kerala.

Kerala’s Growing Radicalisation and Its Impact on Women

Over time, Kerala has become a hotbed of Islamic extremism, marked by a surge in love jihad and grooming jihad cases, the imposition of rigid religious norms, and even participation of some Keralite youth in terror organisations like ISIS. Ironically, India’s most literate and “progressive” state seems to be witnessing an increasing Talibanisation of society.

Back in 2021, young cleric Maulana Swalih Bathery shocked citizens when he declared that “those women going out at night after 9 PM are nothing but prostitutes, and they should be killed.” Such statements reflect how anti-women thoughts are spread and normalised, creating new, dangerous standards for judging a woman’s character and justifying violence.

Over the past decade, Islamist outfits have exploited campuses, minority institutions, and cultural narratives to impose Taliban-style control, pushing women into invisibility while falsely branding it as “empowerment.”

In 2017, a campus-election poster at MET Arts and Science College, Nadapuram (Malappuram) by members of the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) read “Discrimination free education, a friendly campus.” Ironically, the poster displayed 12 men with visible faces and 9 faceless women. Of those nine, one was Hindu and shown without a Hijab, while the rest were depicted veiled.

When questioned, a Muslim male MSF member defended the choice, saying it was their “constitutional right” not to print women’s photos and that they were “upholding a woman’s right of choice.”

Islamist Pressure and Gender Segregation Policies

In August 2022, several Muslim organisations warned Kerala’s communist government not to impose gender-neutral policies. Representatives from the Muslim Education Society, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulema attended the meeting. IUML leader P. M. A. Salam even declared that “girls and boys sitting together in classrooms is dangerous.”

The LDF government later dropped its plan to introduce gender-neutral seating in schools, bowing to Islamist pressure. Critics said this decision proved that religious rigidity continues to outweigh reforms and gender rights in Kerala.

Earlier, in 2015, Farook College in Kozhikode, run by a Muslim management, introduced a strict code banning free interaction between male and female students. Only those obeying the rule could attend classes. Although the SFI (student wing of CPM) protested, they faced opposition from Muslim Student Movement, Students Islamic Organisation, and Kerala Students Union, resulting in violent clashes. Reports even alleged that the college had deployed “morality-police-like groups” to enforce gender segregation across the campus.

Kerala’s Taliban-Like Shift and Global Parallels

The scenario mirrors Afghanistan under the Taliban, where posters featuring women were defaced after the 2021 takeover. Today, under Sharia-based governance, Afghan women are barred from secondary education. In that context, the Kerala classroom’s cloth partitions appear as a disturbing echo of Taliban-era restrictions.

Defending practices such as faceless images of women or classroom partitions under the guise of “choice” or “faith” is, as critics note, nothing more than “Islamist sleight-of-hand that portrays coercion as consent, invisibility as independence, and discrimination as dignity.”

Kerala—long hailed as India’s most progressive state—now faces serious questions about whether foreign-funded religious orthodoxy is eroding its secular ethos. With continued reports of radicalisation, gender segregation, and shrinking spaces for women, the state’s famed literacy and modernity risk becoming hollow statistics.