The option before them was clear: waste a year by sitting at home out of fear or take courage and take the exams. Most chose the latter and came out smiling. Whatever the results would be, they' d already passed one test.
Despite tension in the city and despite the boycott announced by Muslim organisations, nearly 9,000 of the 14,000-odd candidates from the community appeared for the board exams that began here on Thursday.
This was also somewhat of a test for the government, which was determined to see that the exams pass off peacefully and with a high attendance.
And, late at night, education minister Anandiben Patel said the government would consider re- staging the exam for those students who missed out on Thursday.
The overall attendance, according to the education department, was 95.25 per cent.
However, Badruddin Shaikh, a Muslim leader who has been spearheading the call for boycott of the examinations, claimed that 80 per cent of Muslim candidates had not appeared for the examinations.
''There are a few relief camps, like the one at Daryakhan Ghummat, where not a single candidate has appeared for examinations,'' he said.
Sources told this newspaper that about 1,000 students from five schools in Jamalpur, another 1,500 from Kalupur and Bapunagar and about 500 students from Juhapura did not appear for the exams.
While Jamalpur, Kalupur and Bapunagar have witnessed violence, Juhapura has remained tense all along.
At the Pulkit School centre in Paldi, the room meant for Muslim student of F D High School in Jamalpur was almost empty.
Out of 150 students in Dudheshwar area, only four students appeared. Several school principals said many students living in violence-affected areas like Meghninagar, Shahpur, Astodia and Gomtipur also did not appear.
At points like Roopalee cinema, from where Muslim students were to be bused under police guard to centres in the city's riot-free western parts, some community leaders stood by trying to coerce candidates to boycott the exams.
As the bemused policemen on duty looked on, some candidates who'd already boarded the buses were told to get off.
Many of the candidates who got off were seen being ferried to exam centres on scooters by parents or relatives; some took autorickshaws. It was a day for making personal statements. Mousim Rajaiwala is the only Muslim student in his class.
A tenth standard student of Ankur Vidyalaya in Paldi, he was not in favour of the boycott declared by his community leaders and came to the centre accomapined by his maternal uncle, Farikhbhai Shirawala. After the exam he said, he was glad he did.
''Initially he was worried. So much so that though he wanted to sit for the exam, he was not ready to go in the AMTS bus. Only last night, the family decided that I would bring him to the centre,'' says Shirawala, like Mousim a resident of Jamalpur.
The uncle stood outside Ankur Vidyalaya, which was also Mousim's examination centre, for all three hours of today's exam. He then got his niece Nida, a Class XII commerce student at Chhipa Welfare Girls' High School, to her exam at 2 pm.
Unlike Mousim and Nida, Sadik, a tenth standard student of New Education High School in Gheekanta was quite confident and tension-free. He did not want his parents to wait outside for all the three hours. ''He was quite relaxed and had informed us that we should leave as soon as the school authorities inform us that the question papers had been distributed. And we didn't see any point in waiting, though we came back to pick him up almost half an hour before time,'' says Sadik's mother Mumtaz Bhagnagari.
Parents belonging to the minority community were not the only who were anxious about the safety of their children. Many parents belonging to the majority community waited outside the centres during the exam time.
''It is better to wait here. This gives the children moral support that if something does go wrong, his or her parents are just outside and they will take care,'' said Sujata Shah, whose son Vishal was appearing for his twelfth standard exam at Sharda Vidya Mandir.
The parents waiting for their children in the scorching heat, outside the school compounds, did not seemed tensed or worried. Rather, parents of both the communities were seen chatting away to glory, drinking tea together at a near-by stall or cracking jokes.
''Both of us are waiting here for
our children and to ensure their safety. And obviously, this is the wrong
time to let our differences rule us and keep a grudge against each other,
especially during such times,'' said Parwati Rajput, whose son Sanju was
appearing the exam at Pulkit School.