No hijab to be allowed for students, invigilators during II PU exam

Exams beginning on April 22 will have 6,84,255 candidates attending

Students writing the II Pre-University (PU) exam as well as examination staff have been barred from wearing any dress indicating religious identity, such as hijab, according to Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh. The exam will be held from April 22 .

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, the Minister made it clear that it was mandatory for the students to appear in their respective uniforms. However, private candidates and repeaters would be exempted from wearing uniforms. But it would be binding on them to abide by the direction of the High Court of Karnataka and notification of the State Government related to dress code, he said, indicating that they cannot wear hijab either.

The Government has started a helpline for answering any clarification related to II PU exam. The helpline — 080-23080864 — will operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will have subject experts and counsellors who will answer queries.

A total of 6,84,255 candidates would be writing the exam that would be held from April 22 to May 18, the Minister said. This includes 6,00,519 regular candidates, 61,808 repeaters, and 21,928 private candidates, Mr. Nagesh said. Genderwise statistics show that boys outnumber girls marginally as 3,46,936 boys are writing the exam as against 3,37,319 girls.

Bengaluru South educational district accounts for the highest number of examination centres at 83 while Ramanagaram district has the least at 13, the Minister pointed out. Bengaluru South tops the list in terms of the number of candidates writing the exam — 58,836, while Kodagu has the least at 6,048 candidates.

Only the chief superintendents of examination centres would be allowed to carry a basic mobile phone without a camera while all other examination-related staff and students had been barred from carrying mobile phones with them to examination halls. All the processes related to examination would be carried out with police security, he said.

The students are allowed free travel in KSRTC and BMTC buses from their residence to the examination centre by showing their hall ticket, the Minister said. Evaluation of the answer scripts would be taken up in 81 centres across the State.