Students appearing for the Class Xth Board exams in Bihar are making history of sorts in using unfair means to pass their exams. Appalling pictures of parents and relatives scaling three-four-storeyed exam centres to pass on chits to their wards went viral on Thursday on different social media.
Photographs of a multi-storeyed school at Mahnar in Vaishali district showed men risking life and limb to scale the walls of the building right up to four floors just to smuggle textbooks or written replies to their wards, who are seen grabbing the material and copying with ease under the noses of the invigilators.
At several centres, police personnel failed to stop the families from helping their wards, while at some they were actually seen helping in the mass cheating. About 14.35 lakh students are appearing at 80,000 exam centres across Bihar for the all-important Class Xth exam conducted by Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB). Shockingly, Education Minister PK Shahi said the Government alone could not ensure 100 per cent cheating-free examination of this magnitude.
“Conducting this exam is a big challenge,” he added while admitting to large-scale use of unfair means in the Board exams. He said, “Over 14 lakh examinees are appearing and with each of them, four to five people, including parents, are going to the examination centre. It is not possible for the administration to keep an eye on six to seven million people. It is not only in Bihar that such things are happening.”
The Education Minister went on record to say the State Government alone cannot stop the unfair practices if students and parents don’t help. “The orders for conduct of free and fair exams have been given to District Magistrates and police officials. The Government is helpless to stop the dishonest practices unless parents and students cooperate. Should the Government give orders to shoot themIJ” he asked.
When it was pointed out to the Minister that even policemen were seen helping the students, a blasé Shahi said: “It may be that even their children or relatives are taking the exams, so they may be helping.” More shockingly, the Minister expressed helplessness in taking action even in the remaining exams!
After much criticism and complaints, the State Government has directed Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and DGP PK Thakur to further tighten the arrangements at the exam centres. BSEB Chairman l Prasad said: “It is the responsibility of the District Magistrates to conduct fair exams. If unfair means are used on a large scale, the responsibility falls on the DMs concerned.”
BSEB Secretary Sriniwas Tiwari said 515 examinees have so far been expelled after being caught using unfair means during the past two days. He said seven parents have also been arrested for supplying chits to their wards in Rohtas and Siwan. In Vaishali district the exam centre in-charge has reportedly been placed under suspension.
Though it is not the first time that matriculation exam in Bihar is witnessing unfair means but this time the cameras, both video and still, grabbed the action and flashed them. Even former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdullah posted the picture on his account.
There are apprehensions that Bihar’s matriculation exam may be derecognized in other States. It happened in 1997 that the degree of intermediate exam had been derecognized in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh following large-scale use of unfair means, said former Chairman of Bihar Intermediate Education Council Nageshwar Prasad Sharma.
He said the admission on the basis of intermediate certificate from Bihar had been cancelled in colleges there. The recognition of this certificate was restored only in 2002 when Sharma raised this issue with the Centre.