The parents of a few female students taking the Class X exams at a Gujarat school have accused the exam centre administrator of forcing their children to remove their hijab before a paper, compelling the education department to initiate action against the school official.
According to the parents, the incident occurred on Wednesday, March 13, at Lions School, a private school in Ankleshwar town in Bharuch district, before the Math exam.
Following the allegation, the State Education Department ordered the removal of Ilaben Suratiya, the exam centre administrator and principal of that school today, Thursday, March 14.
District Education Officer Swati Raol took action against her after meeting with the parents of the girl students, according to officials, according to PTI.
Students are free to dress in whatever they deem "decent" for the Class X exam; this is stated explicitly by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), which administers the exams.
Talking to reporters, a parent said, "The school principal and other staff harassed the girl students, including my own daughter, by asking them to remove their hijab ahead of the exam. My daughter cried for three hours after returning home. It happened with nearly a dozen girls yesterday. We want the authorities to take action against those involved in this act.”
The GSHSEB has chosen Lions School to be one of the exam locations.
According to the rules, every classroom where students complete their exam papers must have a CCTV recording.
The parents claim that in one such CCTV clip, two Muslim female pupils were instructed to take off their headscarves by a few female supervisors. The women are seen removing the two students' headscarves.
Suratiya told the parents that she instructed the girls to take off their hijabs because the camera footage did not clearly show their features.
"As per the rules, the faces of all the students must be clear in the video recording. That's why we had asked the girls to remove their scarves before the exam so that we don't have to disturb them during the exam and others also don't get disturbed," Suratiya said.
Following the meeting with the parents, Raol terminated Suratiya's position as administrator of the exam centre and ordered an investigation into what had happened.
"I have seen the CCTV footage and the parents also gave their application to me in this regard. I have ordered an inquiry into the incident and also started the process of changing the exam centre administrator because I found merit in the complaint. There are no specific instructions or guidelines from the board about the attire to be worn during exams," said Raol.
MK Raval, GSHSEB Exam Director, stated that students are free to dress whichever they choose when taking the exam.
"There are no specific rules about clothes to be worn during exams. Students can wear any decent attire. Any woman supervisor can check the identity of a female student ahead of the exam by matching her face with the photo on the receipt. After that, we have no issues," Raval said.
