PATNA The police, late Saturday evening, picked up three more persons from Samastipur in north Bihar in connection with the age forgery by the deposed Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) intermediate (arts) topper Ganesh Kumar alias Ganesh Ram, who is now in jail.
Those picked up included Dev Kumari, principal of Sanjay Gandhi Vidyalay, Lakshminia in Samastipur, the school in which Ganesh had enrolled in class 9 in 2013, on fake documents and taken the matriculation examination from Rosera. Also held by the police were Kumari’s husband, Ramkumar Choudhary, and their son, Gautam Kumar.
All three were being interrogated when reports last came in.
According to the police, the arrests were carried out on the basis of the statement of the alleged mastermind of the forgery, Sanjay Kumar, who was picked up from a lodge in Musallahpur area in of central Patna on Saturday.
Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj said the evidence against those picked was being examined. “If corroborative evidence is found, they will be arrested,” he added.
Sanjay Gandhi Vidyalay, Lakshminia , was the school where Ganesh got enrolled for the second time by showing his date of birth as June 2, 1993, while his actual date of birth, when he took the matriculation exam for the first time, from Jharkhand, was November 7, 1975.
{{/usCountry}}Sanjay Gandhi Vidyalay, Lakshminia , was the school where Ganesh got enrolled for the second time by showing his date of birth as June 2, 1993, while his actual date of birth, when he took the matriculation exam for the first time, from Jharkhand, was November 7, 1975.
{{/usCountry}}He later got into Ramnandan Singh Jagdip Narayan Intermediate College (Samastipur), from where he topped in IA this year.
In the face of continuing protests by students, the BSEB has geared up for scrutiny of answer books. The demand for scrutiny is likely to be huge in view of 65% candidates failing in intermediate examinations. Even in language papers, 4.64-lakh candidates failed, including 2.76-lakh in English and 1.87-lakh in Hindi.
“We have formed a four-member committee under retired IAS officer Sudhir Srivastava for scrutiny of answer books. Full justice will be done to the meritorious students if any lapse in evaluation is detected,” he added.
Other members of the committee include former Bihar education project council official Akhileshwar Pandey, board secretary Anup Kumar Sinha and deputy director, information and technology, Arjun Prasad. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had said that the scrutiny would be completed within a month.
Affiliation verification
Now, the BSEB, which has reiterated that there was nothing wrong with the results while putting the entire blame for Ganesh Kumar’s case on the school he appeared from, is also planning to step up investigations into the two institutions in the face of question mark over the manner in which they got affiliation.
Board chairman Anand Kishor, who also submitted his report on the intermediate results to the principal secretary, department of education, RK Mahajan, on Saturday, said that the handwriting of Ganesh had also been matched with the writing on his answer books.
“He has got marks for the content in the answer book and the experts also vetted it, while practical marks are given by schools. As far as the two schools are concerned, their affiliation has already been suspended,” he added
Kishor said that it was apparently due to sheer desire to get into a government job that Ganesh hid his age and indulged in forgery. “What I have gathered is that he used to give private tuition to students for the last several years apart from his other engagements,” he added, ruling out any discrepancy at the board level.
What is surprising is that the two institutions escaped the axe, while the board terminated the affiliation of over 180 schools in a year following the 2016 toppers’ scandal, which led to an uproar and arrest of former board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and secretary Hariharnath Jha.
Board sources said that the inter college had got affiliation in 2014 itself and as the first job was verify the affiliations granted during the tenure of arrested chairman, it got left out. The government has also written for a thorough check on all the institutions, as many sham institutions still might be off the government radar.
“Now, the affiliation of all the institutions will be examined afresh in accordance with the laid down parameters. All the district magistrates will be involved with the process,” said Kishor.
Schools’ accountability
With the intermediate (arts) topper case causing yet another embarrassment to the government despite its claims of cleaning the system after national indignation over irregularities in 2015 and 2016, has finally realised the importance of getting the basics right.
Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said that the government would not like Bihar students to suffer, while it would also not compromise with the sanctity of the examination. “If students fail, they cannot be made to pass without knowledge. Now, the government focus is on ensuring that the students excel on the basis of their merit. The schools and teachers will now be made accountable for quality,” he added.
Singh said that the department of education would submit a detailed road map as per chief minister’s directive in a few days. “On that basis, action would be taken for quality improvement in schools with periodic checks,” he added.
STRAP
MASTERMIND Arrests were carried out on the basis of the statement of the alleged mastermind of the forgery, Sanjay Kumar, who was picked up from a lodge in Musallahpur area in of central Patna