"People of Kashmir are called...": school exam question triggers row
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Representational.
Patna: A class seven half-yearly exam conducted in a Bihar school posed a question, asking the people of Kashmir are known as what has created a row. The Bihar education department explained that the question was an error, but the state BJP alleged that it was a conspiracy and demanded action against those who prepared the question paper, The Indian Express (TIE) reported.
The social science exam paper in a school in Bihar government school in the Kishanganj district on October 12 sported a question about what people from a list of countries were known as. The first one, "people of China", was answered as Chinese for an example. Then the remaining were people from Nepal, England, Kashmir and India.
The examination was conducted by Bihar Education Department (BEPC), an independent body under the state education department. While questions were prepared, BPEC headquarters in Patna, and each district, had separate questions for each exam, though districts have no part in the preparation process. The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) sets the question papers, but BPEC has the total responsibility.
Kishanganj District Education Officer Subhash Kumar Gupta said that what happened was a human error and added that the BPEC had been informed.
However, a BPEC official told TIE that though SCERT has to check copies, the BPEC has the final responsibility rest with BPEC. In the case of the Kishanganj question, it looks like it was because of lack of application of mind by the question setters," TIE quoted the official. He added that BPEC had issued show cause notice to question setters.
BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaswal demanded strong action for creating "malicious questions" for students. He alleges that it was a conspiracy by the question setters to pollute the mind of young students
