Ten matriculate students of a Bokaro school, who were marked absent in their mathematics practical exam conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), locked the main gate of their cradle and sat on a protest on Tuesday, demanding immediate publication of rectified results, the delay of which denied them admission to intermediate course.
The students, all girls, study at the six-decade-old Nehru High School at Telo in Chandrapura, some 59km from Bokaro steel city. As per school records, they had taken their practical exam in February and submitted their projects as well. The practical exam accounted for 25 marks, which took place in the school, and the students were assessed by an external examiner. The marks were sent by the school to JAC. But when the results were published in May, they were shown as absent.
Adding insult to injury, the girls were allegedly asked by principal Anand Mahto to cough up Rs 1,000 each to get their results corrected.
"As I was marked absent, I was not able to take admission to any school for Class XI. We have two options - either quit studies and engage in household chores or protest," said Poonam Kumari.
The "absentee" girls claimed that they had sent letters to JAC human resource secretary and even to chief minister Raghubar Das, seeking their intervention, but in vain. "We used to come to school everyday and plead with our principal to do the needful but nothing has materialised yet," said Poonam, who got 46 in theory out of 75.
The girls met Dumri MLA Jagganath Mahto, after his release from jail, almost a fortnight ago. "He (the MLA) even spoke to our principal, who assured us of publishing the rectified results by August 20. But, nothing has come till date," rued one of the girls.
Principal Mahto conceded it was the fault of JAC to mark the students absent, but denied demanding money from them. "Altogether 19 students had been marked absent in mathematics practical exam. I have contacted JAC senior officers, who promised to sort out the matter," he added.
Bokaro district education officer Mahip Singh said it was wrong on the part of JAC to mark the students absent.
