Assam girl writes exam wrapped in curtain after invigilators fuss over shorts

A 19-year-old girl in Assam had the most humiliating experience of her life when she was made to write an exam wrapped in a curtain. Wait, what?

Yes, it turns out that the college authorities could not bear the sight of the girl appearing for the entrance exam in – shorts. They first asked her guardian (father) to bring pants for her to wear, and while the astounded man rushed to the market to buy them, the girl was asked to drape a curtain around her legs and give the exam.

“It was the most humiliating experience of my life,” recalls Jublee Tamuli, who travelled from Biswanath Chariali to Tezpur with her father for the exam on Wednesday. It was conducted at Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Management & Technology by the Assam Agriculture University.

“The authorities had allowed me to enter the examination venue after conducting proper checks. When I was on my way to the examination hall, an observer asked me to wait while all other students were allowed to enter. I had all my documents including admit card, Aadhaar card, photocopy, but they didn’t check my documents,” Jublee said, according to a report in The Indian Express.

“The invigilator said I would not be allowed to enter wearing shorts. I showed them that it was not mentioned on the admit card, and they told me that you have to know. How can I just know something like this when it wasn’t even mentioned on the admit card?” she asked, adding that she had recently appeared for the NEET exam in the same town, wearing the exact same attire, and no objections had been raised.

The Controller of Exams then told the girl she could take the exam if a pair of pants could be arranged. But by the time her father Babul arranged the same from a market 8 km away, the college authorities had resolved the matter by covering Jublee in a curtain.

Jublee now plans to complain about the matter to Assam education minister Ranoj Pegu.

“They (the exam authorities) even said that if I lacked basic common sense, how would I succeed in life,” Jublee reportedly said, pointing out the irony that the authorities “did not check for Covid protocols, masks or even temperature… but they checked for shorts”.

“Is it a crime to wear a short dress?” asks Jublee, who lost precious time in her exam and found the entire experience quite taxing.

Dr Abdul Baquee Ahmed, principal of the institute, was not present on the day but was aware of the incident. He pointed out that all personnel involved in the case, such as the observers and invigilators, were outsiders.

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