Bihar’s infamous education department continues to grab headlines, and yet again for all wrong reasons. This time, the state’s educational experts have come up with the claim that Kashmir is not a part of India but a separate country.
A question paper prepared by the state board for class VII students across all government schools wants examinees to name what the people of five countries – China, Nepal, England, Kashmir and India – are called.
The examination is being conducted under the Centre’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is overseen in the state by the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC), a wing of the state education department.
The error was pointed out by a student of Vaishali district on Tuesday. When asked about it, Vaishali district education officer Sangeeta Sinha told Times of India that she was on leave and had just resumed work, adding that she will look into the matter.
However, BPEC state programme officer Prem Chandra accepted the mistak and termed it as ‘embarrassing’ while claiming it to be a ‘printing error’.
The BSEB has been in the eye of the storm over its "faulty" examination and evaluation system, mass-scale cheating in Matriculation exams and involvement of top officials in financial irregularities in the Board, that have surfaced in the last few years.
