Tultuli at the examination hall. Telegraph picture

Balurghat, Feb. 23: A Madhyamik candidate who came to the exam hall with her 28-day baby was told she should have chosen a better time to give birth if she was so keen on her studies.

Tultuli Pahan didn’t know how to react. She was being told she should do whatever she wanted, but not step into the Vivekananda Girls’ School classroom with the child.

Her mother-in-law, Manjubala, said they wanted a separate room for her or at least a promise to let the baby in with the grandma when she had to be breast-fed.

“The headmistress not only turned down our requests, but said if my daughter-in-law wanted to take the test, she should not have had the urge to have the baby,” she added.

The regional officer of the Madhyamik board, Debashis Dutta, said: “The centre should have arranged a room for her. I’ll look into it.”

But Ujjwal Basu, the board president, said in Calcutta that what the school wanted to do with such an examinee was entirely up to it. “We don’t have a baby-sitting provision in our regular structure, so if the school denies the girl a separate room, we can do nothing.”

That a tribal girl was eager to move ahead in life despite the hardships did not impress many. “The government should not allow a Madhyamik candidate inside the hall with her baby. That would mean encouraging girls to marry early,” said Pranab Chakrabarty, a former college teacher. Young mothers should study under open universities, he added.

The headmistress, Piuka Sarkar, blamed lack of infrastructure for not being able to offer a room to Tultuli. She defended her comments. “Had she taken the exam next year, she would have done better.”

Dukhiram Hansda, a tribal leader, said the community will raise the incident with the governor and the rights panel.