A group of female college students reportedly raised trouble at a college in Bihar after being asked to take off their hijab in the examination hall. The incident occurred at MDDM College in Muzaffarpur. The students claim that during the exam, they were asked to take off their hijabs so that officials could check for Bluetooth devices.
Reportedly, the girl students objected to standard checking to prevent malpractice during exams. They were then asked to leave the hall by the authorities, as per reports.
“We were in the classroom & were writing the exam when the teacher asked to take off the hijab saying that we might be wearing a Bluetooth device. On not taking off hijab the teacher asked us to leave,” the girl students said.
The college administration characterized it as a routine inspection, but the students made it into a larger controversy by exaggerating it over religious grounds. MDDM college principal Dr Kanupriya said that a student got “aggressive” when asked to take off her hijab so that it could be checked to determine if she was concealing a Bluetooth device. “She said that she won’t write the exams but won’t show her ears. Then she started raising this issue on the basis of religion,” the principal said.
She further added, “It’s shocking that a class 11th girl will behave like this. It seems somebody has misdirected her in the name of religion and hijab. There’s no discrimination based on religion or caste on school premises.”
The college administration had to call the police to get things under control. The MDDM College principal reaffirmed that there is no discrimination based on caste or religion on school premises and that the student was incited in the name of religion over the matter. Pertinently, the issue of hijab in educational institutions, which was first raised in Karnataka, seems to have reached the state of Bihar.
It is worth noting that exam cheating is a widespread problem in Bihar that is yet to be addressed. Bihar board examinations have gained a reputation in recent years as a result of bogus topper controversies. Ruby Rai supposedly topped the Bihar Board examinations years ago, only to be revealed that she could not even tell the names of the subjects she had topped in.
Another Bihar Board exam topper a year later was illiterate in his subjects.
Parents were caught on tape in 2015 assisting their children in cheating on Bihar Board examinations.