Patna: The disappearance of over 42,000 Matriculation examination answer scripts has again brought the spotlight on the beleaguered Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), which, over the past four years, has been grappling with one scandal after another.
The problem of the board, created in 1952, is old - manipulation and delayed publication of results, cheating, rampant corruption etc.
"When I was chairman of the BSEB, I had ordered reduction of 10 per cent marks of examinees from institutions which had no infrastructure or teaching staff. How can its student top the merit list? It was then that Baccha Rai (prime accused in the 2016 merit scam) met me and pleaded with me to reverse my stand. I refused," said A.K.P. Yadav, who was chairman of BSEB from 2008 to 2011.
The persisting problems have led to calls for the removal of Anand Kishor as board chairman. Yadav alleged that Kishor was trying to solve the problems by wielding a lathi (stick) against teachers, students and parents to control the system. "He is relying only on the stick and not taking teachers, students and their parents into confidence," he said.
But supporters of Kishor, a 1997 batch IAS officer, said he is only plugging the leaks in the system. "Anand Kishor is a no-nonsense officer who is trying to clean up the system and plug the leaks. It takes time," said a BSEB official who spoke under cover of anonymity.
The BSEB's troubles came into the public glare ever since a photograph appeared in the media in 2015, showing a large number of people climbing a four-storied building to "help their kin" write an exam. In 2016, it was hit by the Intermediate merit scam with the arts topper, Ruby Rai, failing to utter a word on the subjects she had scored in.
In 2017, arts topper Ganesh Kumar was arrested after it was found that he was actually 41 years old and had manipulated documents to hide his age. And this year, it's the disappearance of 213 bags containing over 42,000 answer scripts from the strong-room of a Gopalganj school, whose principal is in police custody.
"The BSEB is trying to experiment with the examination system and evaluation without taking the teachers, students and parents into confidence. The Matriculation examination evaluation was completed in March. The evaluated papers are still lying in evaluation centres across Bihar. They are lying there unguarded and the district administration does not take responsibility," said Legislative Council member Kedar Pandey, who has been associated with the teachers' union for a long time.
"In the past two years, use of unfair means has been brought down; and so has the possibility of tampering of marks. But whenever anything goes wrong it is the teachers who are made the scapegoat," he said, insisting that the BSEB has to first set its own house in order.
After curbing use of unfair means, around 8 to 9 lakh students are failing every year. "Examinations are taken of examinees who have been taught in the schools. The BSEB has to ensure that the courses in educational institutions have been taught to the examinees," said another former BSEB chairman Rajmani Singh.
The appointment of Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh as BSEB chief in 2014 only added to the controversy. Singh, who was arrested in connection with the merit scam, was considered close to the powers-that-be and his wife was a JDU MLA.
"Who appointed him? They should have known that he was involved in other irregularities," said former BSEB chairman Yadav, who advocated a full-time chairman instead of an IAS officer who holds three posts.
