"Traumatic experience": Keralan girls were "forced to remove" their bras for the NEET exam

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jul 18, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

"Since the eighth grade, my daughter has been studying for the NEET test. We were confident she would perform well on the test, but because of this problem, she was unable to focus and couldn't complete the exam "The father of a student was quoted by ANI.

Digital Desk: For young
women and girls who had to remove some of their undergarments on Sunday in
order to sit for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) at a private
educational institution in Kerala's Kollam district, the anticipation of taking
the test quickly turned into a humiliating and traumatic experience.

According to news agency
PTI, the father of a 17-year-old girl who was taking her first NEET exam
claimed that his daughter was still recovering from the traumatic experience of
taking the more than three-hour exam without a brassiere.

The girl's father has
reported the incident to the police and plans to file a complaint with the
Human Rights Commission as well.

Speaking to a TV station,
he claimed that his daughter was dressed in accordance with the NEET bulletin's
dress code, which makes no mention of innerwear.

According to news agency
ANI, the parent reportedly confirmed that the girl students were required to
take the exam in front of male invigilators and other male students, which
caused the girls to feel extremely uncomfortable and disturbed both mentally
and physically.

"Since the eighth
grade, my daughter has been studying for the NEET test. We were confident she
would perform well on the test, but because of this problem, she was unable to
focus and couldn't complete the exam "The father of a student was quoted
by ANI.

The incident was also the
subject of a suo moto case filed by the state's women's commission. According
to reports, the number of complaints about the incident is rising.

Kerala's higher education
minister R Bindu responded to the incident on Monday, saying that since the
test was not put on by a government agency, there had been a serious oversight
on the part of the organisers.

"It was unacceptable
for the organisers to treat the female and young female candidates in this
manner without taking into account their human rights. We will express our
dissatisfaction with what transpired to the National Testing Agency (NTA), a
central government body that administers entrance exams for educational
institutions, and the Center "said the minister.

Several groups held
protest marches against the college on Monday in response to the incident,
according to the police. A senior police officer in the area stated that a
group of female officers have gone to record the girl's statement and that
appropriate action, including the filing of a case, will be taken based on what
she has to say.

The officer added that
they were investigating the private company that had been tasked with
administering the test.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Kerala
State Human Rights Commission commanded an investigation into the incident. The
Kollam Rural SP was instructed by the commission to submit a report within 15
days.

What took place on July
17th?

The father who filed the
complaint told the television station that on July 17 in the afternoon, after
his daughter had arrived at the testing location, he and his wife were getting
ready to eat lunch in the car when they received a call from a number that said
"information technology" asking them to meet at the gate.

"We saw our daughter
crying when we got to the gate. She claimed that she and the other girls were
required to remove some of their undergarments for the test, and she requested
a shawl to cover herself with.

"My wife gave her
shawl to my daughter, and after she returned inside, we assumed the incident
was over. But when the exam was over and our daughter returned, she was upset
and sobbed into my wife's arms.

According to his daughter,
one of the invigilators—most of them men—said she could write the exam or
remove her brassiere. "In violation of Covid-19 protocols, young women's
and girls' undergarments were stacked one on top of the other in two rooms.
People taking the exams range in age from 17 to 23, he said.

Authorities in north
Kerala's Kannur allegedly forced a 17-year-old student to take off her bra as
part of strict measures to prevent cheating and irregularities in a national
medical entrance examination in 2017.

The woman, who wished to
remain unidentified, claimed to have arrived at the examination centre at 9.20
am while sporting a bra with a steel buckle that had set off the metal detector
outside.

She claimed she was asked
to take her underwear off with 10 minutes left before the NEET.