A 19-year girl was forced to wrap curtains in an exam. Jublee Tamuli from Assam, Tezpur town was not allowed to sit for an entrance exam. In order to sit for the test, the teenager was then made to wrap a curtain around her legs and write the paper. The whole incident happened on 15 September when a teenager appeared for the entrance test of Jorhat’s Assam Agricultural University (AAU).
- What’s the inside story of this incident?
The girl made it to Tezpur from her hometown at 10:30 and reached the exam centre, Girijananda Chowdhury Institute Pharmaceutical Sciences (GIPS). She was on time. The girl was then allowed to enter the centre after the routine checking.
Tamuli had all the required documents with her including the admit card and the Aadhaar card, still she was asked to stand aside by the invigilator. When she asked about the problem, the teacher said that shorts are not allowed.
Talking about the incident, the student said “I questioned why I can’t wear shorts. There are no mentioned norms in the admit card for the dress code.
They said that it’s common sense. I asked the person to speak to my father which he denied. I asked my father to get me full pants. As I needed to sit for my exam urgently and my father was taking time to reach.
They gave me a curtain to wrap around and write the exams”.
Our Indian society is so stuck with these ethics and morals and rules that we forget what is most important is the genius of the brain, the potential of the human being itself.
And this implies more in this situation because it’s an educational forum, here more than the dress code, ethics, physicality, the power of the brain should be encouraged.
The abuse of power by the authorities was just out of the anguish that someone challenged their mindset.
Read more about ridiculous college rules in India,here
- How did her father react?
The father says have never faced such humiliation ever. “When my daughter called me she was in tears. The time was less and the market was far off to get a full pant on such short notice.
It took me half an hour to reach her by then they had given her a curtain to wrap around.
It was nothing less than mental torture on my daughter minutes ahead of the crucial exam.
I see no fault in wearing shorts to the exam centre,” girl’s father added.
In my opinion the girl might get disturbed and this can lead to depression because of this humiliation and mental torture.
We should at least keep in mind the victim’s position and mental state. She is too young to handle something so sudden and traumatizing.
- What has the institute clarified?
On anonymity, the institution’s authorities said that the exams were conducted by agencies and the institute had no role in the incident.
Dr Abdul Baquee Ahmed, principal, GIPS, said he was not present in college but “aware that such an incident had happened.”
“We do not have anything to do with the exam – our college was just hired as a venue for the exam. Even the invigilator in question was from outside.
There is no rule about shorts, but during an exam, it is important that decorum be maintained. Parents should also know better,” he added.
It’s always been seen in Assam that everytime the people who are responsible and should take responsibility step away giving excuses.
- How did the girl feel after this incident?
We’d be in a better place if these folks had spent as much time worrying about the student’s health instead of their legs.
The girl is calling it the “most humiliating experience” of her life, Jublee told The Indian Express, “They did not even check for COVID protocols, masks or even temperature but they checked for shorts’’.
She explained that everyone had their own “comfort zone”. “If a boy wears a vest, no one says anything. Some men go around bare-bodied in public, and no one says a thing. But if a girl wears a pair of shorts, then people point fingers,” she said
She said that the admit card did not mention a dress code and that she’d worn the same attire a few days ago for NEET.
The girl attire was not at all disrespectful or it didn’t look inviting but the experience has revealed the true mindset of people now. Who can go to any extent for their unwanted drama and entertainment.
Now let’s consider, if any student, who is unable to afford proper clothing for the situation and forced to appear in what people call “unethical” attire, but is a brilliant mind, will he/she be barred from sitting in the exams?
Is ethics more important than knowledge? Well, clearly this society is stuck in the clutches of colonial mindset and this will lead us no far.
- Does the authority let her give the exam?
The authorities let her sit the exam and the girl was able to complete her test. The girl said the entire experience was “stressful” and the curtain kept slipping off while she was writing the exam.
While her father was trying to source trousers, she was given a curtain to cover her legs and allowed to write the paper. Out of 200 questions, she attempted 148 questions.
The girl also shared that she plans to write about the whole incident to Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu.
Besides everything, the part that makes me sad is that I think the faculty should have thought before acting in such a manner that it will “disturb” her during the exam.
Faculty should have taken action against her after the exam instead of humiliating her infront of everyone before and during the exam. If anybody was in her place he/she wouldn’t have been able to give 100% on the examination.
What are your thoughts on this? Tell us in the comments below.