Hijab Controversy in Board Exams: Supervisor in Ankleshwar Removes Student’s Hijab Against Rules; Official Replaced Amidst Escalating Dispute
A controversy arose in the board exams in Ankleshwar, Bharuch district, where some Muslim students were asked to remove their hijabs, leading to protests by their parents. Subsequently, after checking the CCTV footage, the parents’ complaints were found to be true, leading to the replacement of the responsible official by the Bharuch District Education Officer.
Controversy arose during the board exams at Lions School, located in Ankleshwar GIDC, where during the Grade 10 mathematics paper, some Muslim students were advised by supervisors to remove their veils. This led to heated disputes, and subsequently, parents rushed to the school premises along with the students.
Parents reported that due to the chaos caused by the supervisors’ insistence, their children were unable to take the exam properly. They expressed concerns that their daughters were being discriminated against due to their religious attire. The incident will be reported to the education department and the police for investigation and necessary action.
An incident of attempting to break the mental morale of the daughters was reported.
In a complaint filed by the parents, it was stated that the daughter of the petitioner had gone to give the board examination at Lions School, where, on the previous day, all the girls were checked before sitting in the examination hall during the mathematics paper examination. Among these girls, the one who was wearing a burqa and headscarf had to remove her burqa and headscarf for checking. Although the checking was done, the burqa or headscarf was not returned to her. As a result of this behavior by the school authorities, the students felt humiliated, and instead of starting the paper, they kept trembling for about half an hour. A request was made to the district education officer to take action against the attempt to break the mental morale of the daughters made by the principal.
The daughters remained disturbed until half an hour before the exam.
This move by the principal of Lions School’s Gujarati medium disturbed the daughters mentally during the exam time, leading to their paper being affected. The hard work of the daughters for the entire year was ruined due to such actions by the principal, leading to a request for suspension from the parents against the principal’s conduct.
After the controversy, an official transfer took place.
In response to the contentious issue, Bharuch District Education Officer Swatiben Raulji stated that a complaint had been lodged by the parents’ representative, Naved Malek. On the other hand, when speaking with the school principal, it was revealed that according to board guidelines, the veil was removed only for the purpose of showing students’ faces on CCTV cameras during exams. The complaint of the parents was found to be true upon checking the CCTV footage. Consequently, orders for the transfer of the non-compliant supervisor to another examination center have been issued. Furthermore, it has been suggested not to handle such matters in a biased manner based on anyone’s religious beliefs.
