JOIN USStung by a media expose, three ‘dubious’ toppers of the class 12 examination conducted by the Bihar board will have to appear for a re-examination on Friday.
The students are from the Science, Arts and Commerce streams.
According to media reports, Humanities topper Ruby Rai, when asked by some television channels about the subjects she had opted for, pronounced Political Science as ‘Prodigal Science’.
To queries as to what was taught in this subject, she said it was about cooking, confusing the subject with Home Science. Ruby has scored 444 marks out of 500.
Reports said she was not even aware of the total marks of all subjects in the board examination, which she said was 600 instead of 500. She is a student of Bishun Rai college in Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district.
Likewise, Science topper Saurabh Kumar of the same college while speaking on a television channel expressed ignorance about electron and proton and could not figure out the link between water and H20.
With the state drawing flak on social media over the quality of teaching and the way examinations are conducted, state Education Minister Ashok Choudhary has set up a high-level probe panel to re-check the merit of the toppers. It was Choudhary, who, after taking over as the state education department, enforced CCTV-generated surveillance and made district magistrates responsible for the fair conduct of examinations. As a result, a large number of students were unable to clear their intermediate examination this year.
On Tuesday, when Ruby’s interview was telecast across different channels, L P Singh, chairman of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), which conducts the plus-two level intermediate examination, asked for her answer copy.
Video footage“After a relook, I found her answers were perfectly alright. But since the video footage has cast a doubt, we have asked all the toppers (of different streams) to appear again for a ‘small test’ on June 3, followed by an interview by a group of experts. This will clear all doubts and put a lid on the controversy,” he said.“We have taken this matter seriously. After the probe is over, we will take strict action against those officials found guilty in this episode,” said Choudhary.