‘Failed’ Class XII students protest at exam board headquarters

PATNA: A day after declaration of Intermediate results by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), at least 250 students protested outside the exam board’s headquarters in the city on Thursday. Nearly 47% students have flunked the Class XII exams this year.

After several failed attempts of the protesters to enter the HQ, they blocked the road and raised slogans against BSEB chairman Anand Kishor and the state government.

One of the students, Vicky Kumar failed in the Inter exams last year and got the same marks this year.

“Last year, I scored 224 out of 500 and failed in three subjects. Even this time, I scored 224 and the marks of all the subjects remain unchanged. That’s suspicious. The board has just copied and pasted my marks,” said Vicky, who hails from Sheohar.

Another protester Niranjan Jha from Muzaffarpur claimed that he had cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) this year.

“I want to take admission in National Institute of Technology (NIT) on the basis of my score in JEE-Main. However, the board has failed me in the physics paper. I got good marks in other subjects,” Niranjan said.

Rohit Kumar from Madhubani, on the other hand, said, “I got more than 60 marks in all subjects and scored only two marks in mathematics. How can it be possible? The board always makes mistakes in correcting copies and giving numbers. I had attempted all the objective questions and answered all numericals except two questions.”

After police dispersed the crowd from the BSEB HQ, at least 100 protesters took out a march till the chief minister’s 1, Anne Marg bungalow to meet him. The protest march was intercepted by cops near Patna Women’s College on Bailey Road.

According to Kishor, “Students, who are not satisfied with their marks, can apply for scrutiny. Forms will be available in Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Purnia, Chappra, Munger and Saharsa from June 9 to 16. They can also apply at the BSEB’s official website (www.biharboard.ac.in).”

A group of experts will cross-check the marks. “If it is the board’s mistake, students will get marks for correct answers,” the BSEB head said.