19-year-old Aliya Assadi from Udupi has lost a year of her education. Several of her female peers have dropped out entirely or are forced to study remotely. In December 2021, Assadi was one among six young women of the Government Pre-University (PU) College for Girls in Udupi, Karnataka, who had been barred from sitting for their examinations simply because they had refused to remove their hijabs (head-covering) before entering the classroom.