Patna: The poor show in the Bihar School Examination Board’s (BSEB) Class 12 or intermediate examination, 2017, had a fallout today in the form of violent student protests outside BSEB offices early on Wednesday. Soon, it spread to other districts as well.
Out of the 12.40 lakh students, just 4.37 lakh or 35.25% managed to clear the board exam as against 62.19% in 2016 when 11.55 lakh students appeared.
The angry students, many of whom had qualified for engineering institute entrance exam JEE (Mains) or other competitive tests but failed in Class 12, demanded that their answer books be shown to them. Others also wanted to know the name of the teachers who had checked their papers.
The students assembled at the BSEB office gate, forcing all the employees to remain confined inside. Traffic on the busy Budh Marg started building up as others joined the protesters, forcing the police to resort to a lathi charge. Several students and passersby were injured in the incident. When Rapid Action Force (RAF) reinforcements too failed to control the situation, the police had to resort to lathi charge at least three times.
Talking to students, this correspondent learnt that Ravi Kumar from Siwan, who got 291 out of 500 marks, failed in English and chemistry but qualified JEE (Mains). “My future is uncertain. I don’t understand how I can fail in chemistry. I want to see the copy,” he added.
Ompriya from Jamui had qualified a marine entrance examination but failed the Class 12 chemistry paper. “I got just 10 marks in theory and 24 in chemistry practicals. I have failed, and now my marine engineering prospects are ruined,” he added.
The marks have left many students completely flummoxed. Gulal Shah Praveen of Khagaul got just two marks in English, Puja Kumari from Kesaria just got 10 marks in chemistry theory, while Dolly Kumari got just two marks in Hindi. “Did I write nothing correct? I fear that the copies could have got mixed up due to barcoding,” he added.
Hundreds of others with single-digit scores in various subjects demanded a revaluation. “We want to know who evaluated our copies and if they were really more capable than us,” said Dimple Kumari.
No one from the BSEB office, however, met the students to listen to their demands. “The board is for the students. We want justice and will fight till the last. The board cannot ruin our future,” Shah added.
[“source-hindustantimes”]