The issue, widely seen by India's Muslim minority community as a bid to sideline it by authorities in a Hindu-dominated nation, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares for elections in key states.

Police stood guard as students in pink uniforms, about a dozen wearing the hijab, entered a government girl's school where the issue first flared up in the southern Indian state's district of Udupi, about 400 kilometers from the tech hub of Bengaluru.

Authorities have banned gatherings of more than five people within 200 meters of educational institutions in the area, as classes from primary to high school began. Colleges remain shut.

A court in the state last week told students not to wear any religious clothing — ranging from saffron shawls, worn by some Hindus, to headscarves — in classrooms until further notice.

Devadatt Kamat, a lawyer in the case, said in an online hearing on Monday that his clients had been covering their heads in class since joining school. They were mainly seeking permission to keep wearing headscarves in the colors of school uniforms, he said.

Last week some schools refused entry to girls and women wearing the hijab, citing a Feb. 5 order on uniforms by the state, ruled by Modi's party.

Some Muslim students and parents protested the move, drawing counter protests from Hindu students who wore saffron shawls and shouted slogans.

Modi's party derives its support mainly from the majority Hindu community, which makes up about 80 percent of India's population of roughly 1.4 billion, while Muslims account for about 13 percent.

An official in the coastal district, Pradeep Kurudekar S, told reporters that authorities would wait for further orders from the government to resume all classes.

Ayesha Imthiaz, a student in Udupi, said it was humiliating to be asked to take off the hijab before class.

She said a move by her college to expel hijab-wearing girls was an insult that would force her to choose between religion and education.

"The humiliation of being asked to leave my classroom for wearing a head scarf by college officials has shaken my core belief," said the 21-year-old student from Udupi, where protests over the head covering ban began.

"My religion has been questioned and insulted by a place which I had considered a temple of education," she told Reuters.

"It is more like telling us you choose between your religion or education. That's a wrong thing," she said after studying for five years at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial college in Udupi.

Several Muslim girls who protested the ban had received threatening calls and were forced to stay indoors, she added.

College officials say students are allowed to wear the hijab on campus and only asked them to take it off inside the classroom.

Udupi is one of three districts in Karnataka's religiously sensitive coastal region, which is a stronghold of BJP.