“If you want to go inside, first take off your shirt,” these are the words of an official supervising the exam centre at the GA Inter College Centre in Hajipur, Vaishali district. Male candidates appearing for the Bihar Polytechnic Diploma Certificate Entrance Competitive Examination in Vaishali district on Sunday were asked to remove their shirts and T-shirts and enter the exam hall in just their vests.

Women were not spared either in Bihar exams. According to Scroll, invigilators of a nursing entrance examination held on Saturday in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur cut the sleeves off of women candidates’ dresses.

The footage of such measures on Saturday’s incident was flashed on regional news channels garnering criticisms from locals as well as the parents of the women.

In response to these incidents coming to light, District Education Officer Lalan Prasad Singh told PTI that women candidates, who enrolled for the exam held by the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, were advised against wearing full-sleeved dresses. Singh said, “The footage showed staff members of the examination centre at a public school cutting off the sleeves of candidates with scissors and blades.”

As reported by PTI, the education department conducted an inquiry into the incident and barred the school from holding competitive exams in future, and the official who served as exam superintendent has also been debarred for life. “The intention of the exercise was not questionable, and care was taken to involve only the female staff, but the problem was that the candidates were made to resize the sleeves in full public view,” the DEO said.