burden of the construction of national identity fell on women and other marginalized classes, “In this drive for hegemony, one can discern a whole range of disparate and mutually contradictory ideologies.”55 GIRLS’ EDUCATION HAS RECEIVED NUMEROUS CHALLENGES FROM FASCIST AND FUNDAMENTALIST REGIMES ACROSS THE REGION: FOR EXAMPLE, FOLLOWING THE TALIBAN TAKEOVER, EDUCATION FOR GIRLS IN AFGHANISTAN HAS BEEN PROHIBITED SINCE 2021. Girls’ education has received numerous challenges from fascist and fundamentalist regimes across the region: for example, following the Taliban takeover, education for girls in Afghanistan has been prohibited since 2021.56 The debate about hijabs in schools,57 from India to Sri Lanka, raised concerns about attempts to block Muslim girls and women from receiving an education. The ‘hijab controversy’ spread across India when, in February 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of Karnataka issued a ban on the hijab in schools and colleges (the ban now stands reversed, as of December 2023, after the BJP lost local elections). Hindutva groups used this as an entry point to push for a wider ban on the hijab following what was described as a”success” in Karnataka.58 It is suggested that the Hindutva state’s actions were a direct response to the leadership and political agency that Muslim women and girls demonstrated across India during the powerful pro-democracy and anti-fascist protests that occurred before the pandemic. The state intentionally framed Muslim women and girls as facing an “impossible choice” between their right to education and their right to practice their religion.59 The cumulative impact of recent incursions against Muslim women in India amounts to a relentless and intense assault on their 55 Rouse, S. (1996). Gender, Nationalism(s) and Cultural Identity: Discursive strategies and exclusivities. In K. Jayawardena & M. de Alwis (Ed.) Embodied Violence: Communalising Women’s Sexuality in South Asia. New Delhi: Kali for Women. 56 United Nations. (2024). Op. cit. 57 Rahman, A. F. (2024). Karnataka hijab ban row raises a question: Why is education not the priority for Muslim girls? Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/karnataka-hijab-ban-row-raises-a-question-why-iseducation-not-the-priority-for-muslim-girls-9114392/ 58 Al Jazeera. (2022). India’s Hindu groups want wider ban on hijab after court verdict. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/16/india-hindu-groups-muslims-wider-ban-hijab-karnataka-court-verdict 59 Hussain, S. (2024). “Feminist counter-authoritarian political agency: Muslim girls re-generating politics in India”. Women’s Studies International Forum, vol. 102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2023.102850 26