Bihar’s academic image was sullied whenever the exams were conducted and results declared. last year, a merit scam was exposed with students, who couldn’t correctly name the subjects, topped and a year earlier guardians were photographed scaling four to five storey of the building to supply chits to their wards. This year a different sort of event has brought the State’s academic image in the bad light. Of the 12.40 lakh intermediate examinees, 8.03 lakh have failed. It is the same exam wherein over 90 per cent students passed in 2012 but the figure has come down to 35 per cent this year.
Never before so many examinees failed in intermediate exam in Bihar. Even as a worried Chief Minister Nitish Kumar summoned the Minister and top officials of the Education Department as well as chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on Wednesday, the furious students in hundreds marched towards the office of the Bihar Intermediate Council where they indulged in violence and arson and police resorted to lathicharge.
While the results were announced on Tuesday, Education Minister Ashok Choudhary took credit of conducting the exam by adopting strict measures and evaluation of the answersheets without any favour. Choudhary admitted that the results were notsatisfactory, but said it was necessary to take harsh steps to bring the system back on the track.
“We had only two options before us: to allow the unfair practices continue or to initiate strict measures. For long jump one has to take a few steps back,” said Choudhary who is under attack from the Opposition.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar accused CM Nitish Kumar of destroying the career of students.
Bihar Government got humiliated last year when the toppers of the science and arts streams, who belonged to same school in Vaishali district, could not tell correctly the subjects in which they topped.
Rubi Rai who topped in the arts stream said she studied “Prodical” Science and when asked what this subject was all about she said it was about cooking.
All the toppers and second toppers had been summoned by the BSEB after the merit scam was exposed and none of them could clear the test and their results were cancelled. Many of them had studied at Bishnu Rai College in Vaishali which was run by one Bachcha Rai, who allegedly took contract from students to get them on top.
Rai is still in jail and some of the toppers of the last year, who were arrested, are on bail. Rai’s college was notorious for getting top posiion every year but this year out of 41,892 examinees from Vaishali district only 5,410 could pass.