Gujarat school exam supervisor replaced after row over forcing girls to remove hijab
Bharuch education officer Swati Raol said the incident took place on March 13 after a student wearing a hijab was caught at the school entrance with answers written on her hand
Ahmedabad: A private school principal has been replaced as the exam centre supervisor in Gujarat’s Bharuch district following allegations that she forced some Muslim students to remove their hijab before the examination, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The incident took place at a private school in Bharuch district’s Ankleshwar town, one of the exam centres for the class 10 examination conducted by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB).
Bharuch district education officer Swati Raol said the incident took place on March 13 after a student wearing a hijab was caught at the school entrance with answers written on her hand.
“The exam centre’s administrator then asked all hijab-wearing students to remove them before the test. One student who didn’t comply was later asked to do so,” Raol said.
Raol said this later led to complaints from her parents that their religious sentiments were hurt, prompting the decision to replace the exam administrator to ensure smooth exam proceedings. She added that typically, all students tend to remove their hijabs before the exam.
A parent of a student accused the authorities of harassing their ward. “The school principal and other staff harassed the female students, including my daughter, by asking them to remove their hijab ahead of the exam. My daughter cried a lot after returning home. It happened with many girls yesterday,” the parent said.
SLions School has been designated as one of the examination centers by the GSHSEB, with mandatory CCTV recording required in every classroom where students are writing their exam papers, as per the rules.
According to the parents, CCTV footage of the classroom accessed by them showed some women supervisors asking two girl students to remove their hijab. The women can be seen collecting the hijab from the two students. GSHSEB rules require schools to install CCTV cameras in all classrooms to ensure the integrity of the examination.
GSHSEB exam director MK Raval said there were no specific rules about clothes to be worn to the examination and students are free to wear any appropriate attire. “There are no specific rules regarding clothing for exams. Students can wear any decent attire,” Raval said, adding that while there was no dress code, students couldn’t be allowed to exploit their attire to cheat during examinations.
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