Patna: Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav today said if he had been in power, he would have allowed examinees to refer text books and write the answers.
His statement came in the wake of recent incident where the mass cheating was caught on camera in Bihar matriculation exams.
Lalu said, “Had it been my government we would have given books to examinees to write ... only those who have read could write answers from books and for those who have not exam duration of three hours would end and they would still be searching for answers.” He was addressing a function after inaugurating a new school in Buxar district on Sunday.
“While parents were trying to sneak inside, policemen have been shown sleeping,” he said. Referring to the visuals showing parents climbing three- to four-storey building to supply chits to their wards, Lalu said, "It appeared as lizards are sticking on a wall."
The RJD chief also criticised State Education Minister P.K. Shahi's excuse that State government alone could not check cheating in examination.
It is worth a note that Lalu's RJD gives outside support to Nitish Kumar led Bihar government.
Senior BJP leader and former deputy CM of the state Sushil Kumar Modi also supported an open book system in examination.
“Open book system in examination is prevalent in prominent universities in America and elsewhere in the world. It has the logic that only student who has read the book could trace the answer,” Sushil Modi told reporters.
He, however, said its (use of book in exam) is a separate issue and could not be linked with rampant cheating in ongoing matriculation exam which drew wrath of the Patna High Court too.
“While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is trying to highlight glory of the State through function on the occasion of ‘Bihar Divas', visuals of cheating in examination has piled shame on the State from across the world...its enough to show the truth of ‘sushasan' [good governance] in a short spell of one month of Kumar in office,” Modi said.
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav took exception to RJD chief's comment on mass-scale use of unfair means in matriculation exam and said it reflected the way government was running with the help of RJD and Congress.
(With inputs from PTI)
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