TIRUVANNAMALAI: In a shocking incident, a Muslim woman was allegedly asked to remove her hijab while appearing for an examination conducted by Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, at Annamalai Matric Higher Secondary School in Somasipadi village in Tiruvannamalai, on Sunday.
Sources said around 540 students from Sengam, Kilpennathur, Polur and Seiyaru in Tiruvannamalai district turned up for the Hindi examination that was scheduled to be held in two slots, from 10 am to 12.30 pm and from 2 pm to 4.30 pm. Shabana, who works as an Arabic instructor at a private school near Tiruvannamalai, was one of the candidates in the 10 am slot.
Ten minutes into the exam, however, an examiner asked Shabana to remove her hijab claiming that as per instructions she had to remove it. Shabana refused to do so and expressed her intention to complete the examination with her hijab on.
The school administration got involved and asked Shabana to either take off her hijab or leave the examination hall. She submitted a letter to the school management expressing her decision not to undertake the exam without the hijab. Amidst the argument, some other students, who were also wearing hijabs removed it and wrote their exams.
Following this, members of the SDPI and the IUML protested in front of the school. The police rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the protesters by offering Shabana a separate room to write the examination, but she declined the offer.
When contacted, district chief educational officer Ganesh said the examination was organised by the Hindi Prachar Sabha and they had their own set of guidelines. "After the disagreement, Hindi Prachar Sabha granted her approval to write the exam in a hijab. However, she declined the offer claiming that she was in no state to write the exam after a lengthy argument,” the CEO added.