UGC Gets Notice from DMC for Not Allowing Yet Another Student Wearing Hijab to Appear for NET
The DMC has slapped a notice on UGC for disallowing a female student to appear for NET because she was wearing a hijab yet again, less than 10 days after a similar incident in Goa.
he University Grants Commission has received a notice from the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) asking why a student wearing a hijab was not allowed to appear for the UGC-NET exam.
The student of Jamia Millia Islamia, named Umaiyah Khan, said that she was not allowed to appear for the exam in Rohini for wearing a hijab.
She said she was asked to remove the headscarf when she reached the exam centre.
The news comes on the heels of a similar event that took place in Goa when a 24-year-old female student couldn’t enter the NET exam hall on December 18 as she was wearing a hijab which the authorities asked her to remove.
Read: UGC Confirms You Can Directly Become Assistant Professor, If You Fulfil This Condition.
DMC issues notice to UGC secretary
Following the incident in Rohini, the DMC issued a notice to the UGC secretary, saying, “It is a clear case of discrimination against a religious minority and an attempt to keep it away from the national mainstream”.
“This practice has no legal or constitutional basis. The Kerala High Court has clearly allowed Muslim women to appear in exams and test while in hijab (wearing scarf and full sleeves),” the DMC said.
It has also issued clear orders to respect the religious rights of Muslim and Sikh women.
“The DMC has asked the UGC secretary why the discrimination was allowed and how do they propose to undo the injustice done to the Muslim women prevented from appearing in the NET exam while in hijab and what steps are being taken to prevent the repetition of this injustice in future,” an official from the DMC said.
Accessories not allowed in NET exam hall
In the Goa incident reported on December 18, the aspirant claimed that while applying for the exam earlier, she had gone through the rules on the website concerned and it nowhere mentioned the dress codes.
She said that there was nothing regarding hijab or dress code and wrote to the National Testing Agency (NTA), University Grants Commission (UGC), Education Department in Goa.
“Not just hijab, even ‘mangalsutra‘ or any other accessory is not allowed in the examination centre to prevent cheating and also from the security point of view,” said the senior official of the Directorate of Higher Education in Panaji.
“There are stringent guidelines by the UGC to ensure that the examination is held in a very transparent manner and the officials were only following it,” he added.
Respected Source – India Today
