Section of AMU students protests removal of questions related to Islam from entrance test

Univ says it is to ensure general students take exam as it is 'difficult for them to solve such papers'

AGRA: After a section of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students held protests on campus to demand the "reintroduction of Indo-Islamic questions in the entrance exam syllabus", AMU's assistant proctor Syed Ali Nawaz Zaidi on Saturday clarified that "many general students take the university's entrance exam every year and it is difficult for them to solve questions related to Islam".

"AMU's revision committee, which was formed by the academic council, suggested dropping such questions in March before the new vice-chancellor (VC) of AMU, Naima Khatoon, took charge (on April 22)," Zaidi added. Before Khatoon took office, her husband Muhammad Gulrez was the university's acting VC.

Notably, students started protesting after questions on Indo-Islamic culture -- a regular practice for years -- were suddenly dropped from AMU's recently-held class 11 entrance test.
Janib Hassan, a student leader who completed his Master's from AMU, said, "There used to be 10 questions. AMU abandoned all such questions now. The decision is not good for this traditional university..."

On Saturday, there were chaotic scenes on the campus after several students, in a bid to meet the VC on the matter, were allegedly stopped and misbehaved with by the university's security personnel. Students raised slogans against the authorities and demanded they take back the exam paper decision.

PhD student Mohammad Gyasuddin said, "We raised our strong objections to remove only Islamic questions from the entrance exam syllabus. We were trying to meet the VC to raise the issue, but were forcefully stopped. We later received a call from authorities saying our demand will be looked into."

Students submitted a memorandum to the AMU authorities on Thursday with a "15-point demand". It included "Indo-Islamic questions should be brought back to the entrance test syllabus and an announcement to hold the students union election soon". They also held a procession from the department of foreign languages to Bab-e-Syed Gate.