The All India Democratic Women’s Association is outraged at the humiliating treatment meted out to girl students who were appearing for the NEET exam in Ayirur exam centre in Kollam district, Kerala. The girls were frisked in an unacceptable way and asked to remove their inner clothes in order to conduct a security check before entering the exam hall. The performance of the traumatised girls was adversely impacted by this incident and the parents of the girl student lodged a complaint with the police. The Kerala Higher Education Minister, R. Bindu has registered her strong protest, and asked the Union Minister of Education and National Testing Agency Chairman to take appropriate action in the matter.
It is even more shocking that the National Testing Agency (NTA), the exam conducting authority did not take up the matter seriously. The NTA has the responsibility of conducting all entrance exams in the country. All the examination centres allotted by the NTA were unaided schools/colleges in the state.
Five women have been arrested in connection with this case. Two women arrested are employees of the college and three of them are employees of the Star Security Agency. All of them were appointed by the NTA.
The AIDWA demands a strict review of the security protocols of entrance exams, to ensure that the safety and dignity of the students, especially girl students, is not violated during the nationwide mass entrance exams. The Central Government should ensure that the guilty are punished and the NTA is censured for its irresponsible comments on this incident and procedures.
