Hyderabad: Students deplore forced burkha removal

Hyderabad: After female aspirants faced issues with the mangalsutra during the VRO examination, Muslim women from foreign countries studying in Hyderabad speak out their anguish on having to remove their burkhas in front of men in examination hall during degree exams. 

The Muslim women alleged that during every exam, they were being forced to remove their burkhas in front of men even though they were not comfortable about it.

They also alleged that whenever they tried telling the examination centres that they were not comfortable about removing the burkhas, they were forced by being told that they had to strictly follow the rules of the examination centres.

A Muslim woman from a foreign country studying in Hyderabad in a degree college affiliated to Osmania University, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Whenever I wrote examinations in different examination centres, they never allowed me to write the exam in burkha. Instead they let me cry despite my telling them that this was not my culture. Once, when I was writing the final exams for my first semester, I was nine months pregnant. The examiner shouted at me in front of other students and said that I would cheat because I was wearing a Burkha. I told her ‘You can check I am not carrying anything’ and this happened in a Muslim college.”

Another woman on condition of anonymity said, “When I was writing the final exam, I was not allowed to enter the examination hall by a Muslim examiner. It was the Roza month and I told her that it was a holy month for us and I couldn’t remove my burkha but she said was also a Muslim and she had to obey the rules.”

 Prof. Sriram Venkatesh, Director, Osmania University Foreign Relations Office, said, “We have to respect the sentiments of each and every community and it is not correct if colleges ask them to remove the burkha. We just have to be more vigilant in the examination halls to prevent any malpractices; for that strict frisking is enough. We should respect their culture. If students who have faced such issues complain to us, we will take action against such colleges but we have not given any such orders to any degree colleges asking them to remove burkhas.’’