Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Nitish Kumar

India Today recently investigated the Bihar education system and through a sting operation, exposed the scam of playing with the future of Bihar kids.

For the investigation, India today’s team met with a full-time beautician at Hajipur in Vaishali district who confessed of being involved in the checking of class 12 answer sheets. Beautician Lalita Chaudhry runs a boutique and a beauty parlor and was designated as a teacher on official records, she disclosed.

Chaudhry revealed that an acquaintance showed her as a teacher on official papers at a bogus school. The school would not hold any classes. And yet, she was called to check class 12 answer sheets.

With further investigation into this blunder, the team came across a women’s MDDM College in Muzzafarpur, a test-checking center for this year’s intermediate exams, where it was disclosed that about 64% class students failed.

The principal, Mamta Rani, said teachers were under a lot of pressure. They had a lot on their table. When the time had come to check the answer sheets, the teachers were already on a strike for ‘equal work, equal pay’ and so a lot of work piled up for them. Due to government’s pressure, the teachers were demanded to check the papers quickly. With the capacity of checking 30 sheets, they checked 60, leading to an obvious folly of errors.

She said, “Examiners are scared after what happened last year. A sword is hanging over them. If they are generous, the test-papers could be sent for re-checking. That’s why they are inclined towards giving fewer marks and not more.”

At another centre, due to absence of qualified staff, under qualified staff was demanded to correct the answer sheets. Due to incompetence, the checking again was filled with errors.

The Nitish Kumar government, embarrassed, tries to curb all malpractices through tough measures but indefinitely fails to do so.

After the scandalous revelations of last year’s blunder, nothing has made the situation of Bihar education any better. The system is still unfit to the point of wrecking the future of the lives of the kids associated with it.

By Rupal