Freudian slip? Bihar Board ‘Recognises’ Kashmir as Country

Srinagar—The education board of Bihar state has apparently ‘recognised’ that Kashmir is not a part of India, but a separate country, media reports said on Wednesday.

A question paper prepared by the state board for class-VII students across all government schools asked them to name what the people of five countries — China, Nepal, England, Kashmir and India — were called.

The examinations commenced on October 5 and ended on Wednesday. They were conducted under the Centre’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is overseen in the state by the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC), a wing of the state education department.

A student of Vaishali district pointed out the “error” on Tuesday. BEPC state programme officer Prem Chandra, said he knew about the “gaffe”. “It’s very embarrassing, I admit,” he said and called it a printing error.

Sources in the education department said the question papers for the BEPC examinations are prepared centrally though they are printed at multiple locations.

The BPEC, a wing of the state education department which organised the exam, also happens to be the organization responsible for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Despite the RTE ruling that students need not pass exams to go up a class, Bihar is conducting two assessments in a year to improve standards.

The majority of Bihar school students are currently taking the bi-annual test, which started on October 5 and October 11. The test is taking place without textbooks since printing was not completed six months after the session began in April.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now

MONTHLY	Rs 100
YEARLY	Rs 1000
LIFETIME	Rs 10000

CLICK FOR DETAILS