Complaints of flawed evaluation pour in after Bihar exam results

Hundreds of students have been gathering at the BSEB’s office to protest. They blame the board’s move of hiring middle school teachers for evaluation for the mess.

Anuj Kumar, a student from Nalanda who has cleared IIT-JEE Mains, has failed in Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB)’s class XII Physics and Chemistry papers. He has challenged the evaluation process and asked the board to make his papers public. Patna’s Mohammad Ibrahim has similar complaints. Another student, who did not take Biology exam, alleged he was awarded marks in the subject.

Complaints about flawed evaluation and tabulation have been pouring in since BSEB announced the results on Tuesday. Hundreds of students have been gathering at the BSEB’s office to protest. They blame the board’s move of hiring middle school teachers for evaluation for the mess. The board was forced to do so after over 55,000 senior secondary teachers had gone on strike over pay parity with contractual teachers in the middle of the evaluation process. .

Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse a group of students outside the BSEB office here on Wednesday. Security was increased around the office as unsuccessful students continued to visit the office on Thursday with similar complaints. Reports said that students blocked traffic in Supaul, Purnea, Nalanda, Bhagalpur and Saran to protest.

BSEB chairperson Anand Kishor assured re-evaluation but downplayed allegations of unfair evaluation involving middle school teachers. “Most teachers we engaged for evaluation were master’s degree holders and were given answer keys and model answer sets,’’ he said. Kishor dismissed doubts about Arts topper Ganesh Kumar, who is from Jharkhand and took his exams in Bihar. “There is no problem with a Jharkhand boy writing his exam anywhere in the country.’’ The board has been looking into Kumar’s high score in music practicals based on internal school assessment.

CM Nitish Kumar promised to address the concerns. “Students not satisfied with their marks can go for re-evaluation. There would be early re-evaluation and compartmental exams to ensure that students do not lose a year.’’

Courtesy: The Indian Express