In what seems like a case of grave carelessness on part of school authorities and Bihar education department, class 7 students of government schools in some parts of Bihar were asked a mischievous question about the nomenclature used to describe the “nationality of Kashmiris” in exam.
In a series of questions asking students to name the nationality of people of different countries Kashmir was mentioned as a separate entry along with India, China, England, and Nepal. Thus implying that Kashmir is not an integral part of India. This question was allegedly asked to the students in Araria, Kishanganj, and Katihar districts.
The eight mark question is framed as, “What are the people of the following countries called?”. The sub-sections contained – India, Nepal, China, England and Kashmir as separate entries.
The headmaster of the school said that they received the question paper from Bihar Education Board. He did not attribute any malicious intent to the blunder and called it a “human error”. “The question had to ask what are the people of Kashmir called? But, it mistakenly carried what are people of the country of Kashmir called? This was human error,” Head Teacher SK Das said.
The issue has now turned into a full blown political controversy in the state . BJP is leaving no stones unturned to play it up and attack the Grand Alliance. “The exam question reflects the mentality of this government. Such incidents did not happen until the NDA was in power. Under the new government, the morale of such anti-social elements and secessionist elements has emboldened. The Bihar government should take this incident lightly. Why is there so much delay in taking action against those responsible? Such people should have been behind bars,” said BJP MLA and former minister Jeevesh Mishra.
BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that the question was framed in connivance with Popular Front of India (India), an organization recently banned by the Centre for allegedly fundinfg terror. “Under the new government, the education department has set such a question paper for class 7 in connivance with the PFI (Popular Front of India). BJP will hold a protest against it. Such an incident took place in 2017 as well. We have raised this issue and Nitish Kumar has assured action but nothing happened,” said Sanjay Jaiswal, Bihar BJP president
The state government is in a damage control mode and has ordered a probe into the matter. “Nobody would do it deliberately. An inquiry has already been ordered into the matter. Responsibility will be fixed and appropriate action will be taken against whoever is found responsible for it,” state education minister Chandrashekhar.
“The Bihar government neither frames anyone in fake cases, nor protects anyone. The people who are raising such questions did not do so when they were with us? They should have raised such issues when they were in alliance with us,” said Shravan Kumar, state minister and JDU leader.
Surprisingly, in 2017 when the BJP was in power in the state, a similar question was asked in exams conducted in Vaishali. Back then it had become a cause of much debate and discussion.