Groups of students who had failed in the Bengal higher secondary exams, the results of which were declared on Friday, held protests in at least three places on Monday demanding that they be declared successful.
Protests were held in front of Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake, which houses the headquarters of the state education department, on the Rashbehari connector in Kasba and in Sonarpur.
An official of the state HS council said last year’s cent percent success triggered this year’s trouble. The school-leaving exams could not be held last year because of Covid and all candidates were declared successful.
This year the pass percentage is 88.44 per cent. As many as 7,20,862 candidates wrote the test. Which means about 80,000 students have failed.
“It is unfortunate that a section of unsuccessful candidates is holding protests. Our pass percentage is better than the secondary education board's. We have assessed students according to their performance,” said HS council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya.
At least 70 students from 10 schools in Belgharia, Rajarhat, Agarpara and other places sat on the road in front of the main gate of Bikash Bhavan for over seven hours, demanding that they be declared successful.
In Kasba and Sonarpur, a similar number of students held demonstrations.
A student of Jatiya Vidya Niketan in Belgharia said she had failed to secure the pass marks in English. “I have never failed in English. I don't know how so many from our school have failed in the subject. I came here today to demonstrate against this one-sided decision of not giving us the bare minimum pass marks,” the girl said.
At one point the agitating students tried to breach a barricade set up by the Bidhannagar commissionerate in their attempt to enter the office. The police thwarted their attempts.
It took hours of convincing by senior police officers for the students to disperse from in front of Bikash Bhavan. The entire road leading to Karunamoyee from City Centre, via Bikash Bhavan, had to be shut down for traffic.
A senior officer of the commissionerate said they had spoken to the students at length and told them they should at least let the road be reopened.
“The protesters were all school children and we could convince them to leave after talking to them at length," said the officer.
In Kasba, however, the students dispersed a few minutes into the protest as their parents intervened and convinced them to leave, a senior officer of Kasba police station said.
“We did not have to use any kind of force to make them leave. We spoke to the parents and they persuaded the children to return home,” the officer said.
In Sonarpur, too, the agitation ended in around 20 minutes following intervention by guardians.
