Opposition wants Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to sack education minister for the results and topper scams
PATNA:
The students are adamant that they will not move from outside Bihar's school education board office. A group of policemen catch hold of some of them, by their arms and legs, and bundle them into waiting vehicles. The next day, the school students return in greater numbers to continue protests outside the Bihar Intermediate Examination Board office demanding that the Nitish Kumar government evaluate their answer sheets, right from the scratch, rather than just a recount.
Two in three Class 12 students who appeared for the state education board's examination flunked the exam this year. The Nitish Kumar government has attributed the poor performance in the exams, to steps taken by the administration to ensure that students were not able to cheat or buy marks.
It couldn't prevent Ganesh Kumar though, the 42-year-old who topped the Class 12 exam but could not correctly answer basic questions about his subject. It also turned out that he was a father of two children and had also fudged his age. Last year's topper, Ruby Rai had drawn national infamy after she said "political science" is about cooking.
But the students do not believe that 8 lakh students could not have failed on merits.
"It is because of the poor standard of evaluation that students are suffering," a young girl protesting shouts into the camera. "They got the answer papers evaluated by primary school teachers," adds another.
As evidence, they point to students who had made it through engineering and medical entrance examination conducted elsewhere but failed the board examination. A report by news agency Press Trust of India said there were instances where candidates had done well in the joint entrance examination but scored 2-4 marks in Physics, Maths and Chemistry.
It is such cases that the Bihar State Education Board is having a difficult time to explain.
The board's chief Anand Kishor on Tuesday announced that it would give scrutiny of answer sheets of students who have cleared entrance examinations priority. The examination board, however, hasn't agreed to a re-evaluation of the answer-sheets but only recounting of the marks. This too is limited to just two subjects.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for now, has stood his ground and this week declared that next year's exams would be still tougher. But the opposition isn't sparing the state either. Student unions affiliated with political parties have started lending support to the students.
On Tuesday, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi demanded that Mr Kumar sack the education minister and reached out to a group of school children.
Two in three Class 12 students who appeared for the state education board's examination flunked the exam this year. The Nitish Kumar government has attributed the poor performance in the exams, to steps taken by the administration to ensure that students were not able to cheat or buy marks.
It couldn't prevent Ganesh Kumar though, the 42-year-old who topped the Class 12 exam but could not correctly answer basic questions about his subject. It also turned out that he was a father of two children and had also fudged his age. Last year's topper, Ruby Rai had drawn national infamy after she said "political science" is about cooking.
But the students do not believe that 8 lakh students could not have failed on merits.
"It is because of the poor standard of evaluation that students are suffering," a young girl protesting shouts into the camera. "They got the answer papers evaluated by primary school teachers," adds another.
As evidence, they point to students who had made it through engineering and medical entrance examination conducted elsewhere but failed the board examination. A report by news agency Press Trust of India said there were instances where candidates had done well in the joint entrance examination but scored 2-4 marks in Physics, Maths and Chemistry.
It is such cases that the Bihar State Education Board is having a difficult time to explain.
The board's chief Anand Kishor on Tuesday announced that it would give scrutiny of answer sheets of students who have cleared entrance examinations priority. The examination board, however, hasn't agreed to a re-evaluation of the answer-sheets but only recounting of the marks. This too is limited to just two subjects.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, for now, has stood his ground and this week declared that next year's exams would be still tougher. But the opposition isn't sparing the state either. Student unions affiliated with political parties have started lending support to the students.
On Tuesday, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi demanded that Mr Kumar sack the education minister and reached out to a group of school children.
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