In a state where there are at least four other minorities – Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains – the singling out of the ‘Muslim’ category has alarmed parents of students appearing for the exam.
New Delhi: The Gujarat government is using a mandatory online form to identify Muslim students appearing for their 10th and 12th standard Board examinations, Ahmedabad Mirror reported on Friday.
The online form asks the students whether they belong to the minority category. Once the student chooses the category, the form gives two further categories to identify themselves with: ‘Muslim’ and ‘Others’.
The newspaper pointed out that although Gujarat has at least four other religious minorities – Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains – the Gujarat government is asking only Muslim students to identify themselves.
Each year, around 17.5 lakh students write the Board exams in Gujarat, conducted by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GSHSEB).
The students’ parents who came to know of the discrepancy fear it is a deliberate attempt on the part of the Gujarat government to collect data on Muslim students.
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