BHOPAL: Three state government teachers, including the centre supervisor and assistant supervisor have been removed from examination duty over allegedly forcing a Class XII Sikh student to remove his turban before appearing in the ongoing MP board examinations in Dhar district.
As part of the anti-cheating drive in the ongoing MP state board exams, the concerned student too was frisked while entering examination hall of Dhamnod government higher secondary school in Dhar district on Monday. The on-duty teachers forced the student to remove his turban after which he opposed the act and complained about it to the district authorities.
“While entering the examination hall, the staff there asked me to take off my turban. I resisted it and even complained in to authorities, but I was told that it was part of checking in the examination process as prescribed by the MP Board. It was not only humiliating for me, but owing to the stress generated by it, I couldn’t perform well in the concerned exam,” the student said in the complaint to district authorities in Dhar.
Subsequently, a probe was ordered in the matter. Since the on duty examination staff has been found to be primarily at fault, so three teachers, among them the concerned examination centre supervisor, assistant supervisor and another teacher have been removed from exam related duties, the district education department sources told The New Indian Express on Tuesday.
Offended by the incident, the Sikh community in Dhamnod town of Dhar district too have written to the district education top brass, demanding strictest possible for all those responsible for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh student, the Dhamnod Sikh body head Jasbir Singh Hora said on Tuesday.
Importantly, concerned over the incident, Chief Minister Kamal Nath had directed the Dhar district administration to conduct a probe in the matter and take action against all those found guilty.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP linked the incident with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “The shocking incident of a Sikh student being asked to remove his turban during checking at exam centre in Dhamnod area of Dhar district exposes that the enmity with Sikh community was not yet over, even though 36 years have passed away,” state BJP media convener Lokendra Parashar tweeted on Tuesday.
Importantly, the BJP has been repeatedly targeting the CM Kamal Nath by linking his name to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.