Mumbai: Citing concerns about potential cheating incidents, BJP’s ports and fisheries minister Nitesh Rane on Wednesday wrote a letter to state education minister Dada Bhuse demanding that students wearing burqas should not be allowed at examination centres for the Class 10 and 12 board exams.
Bhuse is from the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.
Rane said there must be uniformity in rules for Hindu and Muslim students. He further stated that the Mahayuti govt, which follows Hindutva ideology, will not tolerate the politics of appeasement and added that those who wish to wear the hijab or burqa can do so at home but not at exam centres.
Rane said in his letter, “It was informed from the govt level that students of Class 10 and 12 are allowed to take the examination wearing burqa and (sic) if necessary during examination, women police/officials or teaching staff should be appointed for case-by-case inspection. Class 10th and 12th exams are very important exams for students. The entire future of students depends on it. The said examination is expected to be done transparently without any kind of unfairness like copying. For this, instructions are given from time to time by govt. If the student is admitted to the examination centre wearing a burqa, it is not possible to check whether a candidate is taking the exam using electronic equipment while wearing the burqa. If some objections arise in case of emergency, social as well as law and order problems will arise and many students will have to suffer loss.”