A nursing student in Ahmedabad has alleged that he was initially prevented from appearing in his Gujarat University General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) viva examination solely because he had a beard, raising serious questions about discrimination and harassment on religious grounds.
Hafiz Abu Bakr, a nursing student, told FoEJ Media that the incident occurred when he arrived at the examination venue for his viva, where he was stopped by examiners and told he was “not eligible” to appear because he had not shaved his beard. He said several candidates had already completed their viva before he was denied entry.
“Before me, three to four students had already given their viva. When I entered, I was told, ‘You are not eligible for the exam because you have a beard,’” Abu Bakr told FoEJ Media.
He said he tried to explain that keeping a beard was part of his religious practice. “I told them politely that I was sorry, but this is for religious reasons,” he said.
Abu Bakr alleged that faculty members openly linked beard to grading practices. “In our course, five marks are allotted for grooming. They do not give those marks if a student has a beard. In fact, they fail students just by looking at the beard,” he alleged.
The student said this was not the first incident. “The same thing happened to me last year as well at LG Hospital. This time again, the issue came up,” he told FoEJ Media.
After being denied entry, Abu Bakr contacted his college principal. Subsequently, staff members from the college arrived at the hospital and conveyed that a student could not be stopped from appearing in an examination or subjected to harassment on the basis of a beard.
Following this exchange, Abu Bakr was allowed to appear for the viva, but only after a delay of nearly one and a half hours. He said the experience caused him significant mental distress.
“We prepare for these exams under intense pressure. When something like this happens, your mind just shuts down,” he said. “My viva was delayed by one and a half hours because of this,” he added.
He further alleged that the behaviour of the examiners was inappropriate and marked by arrogance. “The teachers’ behaviour was not good. There was arrogance. But when they realised that the matter had come into the open, they finally allowed me to appear,” he said.
However, there is no publicly available Gujarat University guideline that prohibits students from appearing in examinations due to a beard.
