The Ministry of Education has sought a factual report from the West Bengal Government on a Class 10 model question paper asking students to mark “Azad Kashmir” in a map. A political row has erupted in West Bengal after its image went viral on social media, with the opposition BJP claiming it to be a “jihadi conspiracy” and the ruling TMC in the State terming it a mistake that it does not support.
“The ministry has taken a serious view of news reports on a question for class 10 examination 2022-23 of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education asking the students to identify ‘Azad Kashmir’ on India’s map. The MoE has asked for a factual report along with an Action Taken Report from the Education Department of West Bengal in connection with the question in the test paper,” MoE official sources said.
Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar demanded a state-level inquiry into the matter and called for action against the publisher and the person who has set the paper.”It shouldn’t happen. The paper-setter is anti-national & inspiring terrorism. State’s Education Minister should write to him & this test paper cell should be shut immediately. We’ll examine this & take a decision,” Sarkar said in a tweet message.
West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Ramanuj Ganguly, however, conceded that the “goof-up” took place in the test papers published by the autonomous body, adding that action was being taken against those responsible for the mistake.
The question paper was issued in an exercise book of a Bengali-medium school for Madhyamik aspirants. In the paper, the students were asked to identify several places on the map - Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (referred to as ‘Azad Kashmir’ in Pakistan), the place where Gandhiji had first undertaken the Satyagraha movement, and the Chittagong battleground.
“A high-level probe must be ordered. This incident proves that the state government promotes jihadi thoughts to appease its vote bank,” BJP leader Rahul Sinha said. BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh also hit out at the TMC government and said it not just “supports jihadi elements but also tries to influence the minds of the schoolchildren”.
Hitting back at the BJP, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said his party doesn’t support anything that is wrong.”If someone has set such a question, he has done wrong. We don’t support such acts. The TMC is a secular party which does not believe in appeasing any particular community. Sarkar has made a baseless comment against our party,” Ghosh said.