Latecomers barred from entering exam centres in Ara

Ara: "Gate khol dijiye, Sir… please… mera ek saal barbad ho jayega" (Sir, please open the gate… otherwise, my one year will be wasted), cried an Intermediate examinee, kneeling in front of the closed gate of H P D Jain School here on Saturday morning. She had arrived just a few minutes late but was denied entry.
Similar heartbreaking scenes were witnessed outside various examination centres in Ara as wails and desperate pleas echoed through the streets.Several students who arrived late were left devastated after being barred from taking their exams under the strict rules of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB).
The BSEB has made it clear that no examinee would be allowed entry once the stipulated time has lapsed. The scene was no different outside Amir Chandra Plus Two Girls' High School where students stood in tears, pleading with officials to let them in.
"We will come on time from tomorrow, sir… please allow us today… you also may have children like us, sir… please," begged another student at a different exam centre.
Parents, too, were distraught. "The career of my child will be ruined if she misses this exam. We were just two to three minutes late due to heavy traffic," said Dharmendra Kumar Singh, father of one of the students who was denied entry.
However, centre superintendents assured the latecomers that they were strictly following BSEB's instructions.