What Ails Bihar School Examination Board!

The Registration 2010 for the students who want to take the Secondary School Examination 2011 is going on in the state. According to the number of students in each school OMR Sheets with a directive booklet to the Principal or Headmaster have been supplied. Contradictions abound creating a strange state of obscurity and ambiguity. For a logical conclusion the following aspects need be placed before eyes:

1. The Bihar Government decided to follow the national curricula 2005 and the HRD evolved the ways to go ahead. SCERT, Patna took up the responsibility to formulate the curricula and prepare textbooks. After continuous efforts they proclaimed to be victorious and produced the syllabi and texts for XI classes of Arts, Science and Commerce. One can’t understand this descending order. Standards can be assessed and kept balanced when the system begins with class-I. However, two examinations have already been conducted and the results declared. The third one is in offing.

2. Bihar School Examination Board, after completion of the prescribed courses of studies, just at the time of Registration distorted the scheme of the examination and dictated their own ill design. It created turmoil even in the State Legislative Assembly and Council. Reconciliation took a shape other than that of designed by the curricula formulators.

3. SCERT in the next phase did the same job for class IX-X. They prepared the new syllabus which was published in March 2007 with the expectation of enforcement in 2008. Textbooks couldn’t be published in time and the implementation lagged behind by one year. In 2009 the textbooks for class IX were made available and a new syllabus, too, was published. The website of the Board contains the syllabus of 2007 (2008) only. Had it been repealed it would have been withdrawn from the website. One can assume that it is just to show the world that this Board has its own ideal syllabus. [Hathi ke dekhane ka ek dant(one tusk of the elephant for exhibition)]

4. The syllabus available on the website (to be cited as ‘S-07’) contains regulations for opting subjects where necessary and the most important aspect for any syllabus i.e. scheme for examinations, regulations for admission, routine with periods of instruction prescribed for each subject, format for mark sheets etc. The syllabus published in 2009(to be cited now as ‘S-09’), and not available on the website, contains nothing of these except two regulations regarding Mother Tongue and Second Indian Languages and it can easily be seen that the insertion of these regulations indicates the blunder committed against the evil design.

5. ‘S-07’ regulates, “The group of Mother Tongue contains three following languages – Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. A student will opt one language of this group. It has been named as Hindi (Mother Tongue)/Urdu (Mother Tongue)/ Bengali (Mother Tongue) This paper will carry 100 marks and the pass marks will be 30. To select one language from this group will be compulsory.”(Page-1)

6. ‘S-09’ states, “The group of Mother Tongue contains four following languages- Hindi, Urdu, Maithili and Bengali. A student will select one language from this group. It has been named as Hindi (Mother Tongue)/ Urdu (Mother Tongue)/Bengali (Mother Tongue)/Maithili (Mother Tongue). This paper will carry 100 marks and the pass marks will be 30. To select one language from this group will be compulsory.”(Page-1)

7. Look at the apparent difference. Maithili was not there in ‘S-2007’, hence three amended to four.

8. ‘S-07’ regulates ‘Second Indian Language, “Four languages have been included in this group-Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. The languages of this group have been named as Sanskrit/ Hindi II/ Urdu II and Bengali II. Selection of one language from this group, too, will be compulsory. But the language selected as Mother Tongue from the first group can’t be selected from this group. The students whose mother tongue won’t be Hindi will have to opt Hindi II from this group. This paper also will carry 100 marks and the pass marks will be 30.(Page32)

Presently this group contains the syllabi of Hindi and Sanskrit. For Urdu II and Bengali II the textbooks prescribed for classes VII and VIII will remain prescribed for Classes IX and X.”

9. ‘S-09’ copies the above in toto but omits Bengali II as name.(Page-39)

10. Provision in both names the four Second Indian languages as (i) Sanskrit, (ii) Hindi II, (iii) Urdu II and (iv) Bengali II.

11. ‘S-07’ states the scheme of examination, “Bihar School Examination Board will conduct the external examination and on the basis of achievement will release certificates. The examination will be conducted after the completion of the syllabi for Class X on the basis of the syllabi. Maximum Marks and the duration of the examination will be as follows:

S.No.	Subject	Number of Question Paper	Maximum Marks	Duration of the Examination
1	Mother Tongue	1	100	3 Hours
2	Second Indian Language(SIL)	1	100	3 Hours
3	English	1	100	3 Hours
4	Mathematics	1	100	3 Hours
5	Science	1	85*	3 Hours
6	Social Science	1	100	3 Hours
7	Optional Subject: Commerce/Adv. Math/ Computer/H.Sc/Music/Art/ Phy.Ed.and Yoga**/Maithili/ Arabic/Persian	1	100	3 Hours

* There will be an external practical examination of 15 marks for Science.

** There will be practical examinations of 30 marks for computer/H.Sc./Dance/Music/Phy.Ed. and Yoga at school level.

*** The syllabi of optional subjects will be released separately.” (Page 133)

It is stated again, “7. Optional Subject: One subject out of the given subjects can be opted as optional subject. To opt optional subject is not compulsory. It also carries 100 as maximum marks.” (Page 134)

12. Now underline the following points:

(i) ‘S-07’ only is available on Board’s website. It means that it is in force.

(ii) ‘S-07’ hasn’t been withdrawn and ‘S-09’ hasn’t been uploaded which indicates that there is certainly something different from each other and the authorities have double standards.

(iii) ‘S—07’ provides a sixth paper as ‘optional’ surely not compulsory, but to facilitate the students to opt one of (i) Commerce/Advanced Mathematics/Computer/Home Science/ Music/Art/Physical Education and Yoga/ Maithili/Arabic/Persian.

(iv) Maithili/Arabic/Persian in this group is obviously incompatible, but whatever reason might have been behind, it is there.

(v) ‘S-09’ provides a place for Maithili and promotes it to the category of ‘Mother Tongue’.

(vi) ‘S-09’ provides syllabi and textbooks for Arabic and Persian, which were subsequently published by the Board itself.

(vii) Bhojpuri is nowhere in ‘S-07’. It has been introduced in ‘S-09’ as ‘Mother Tongue’.

(viii) ‘S-09’ provides syllabi for (a) Yoga and Physical Education (b) Music and (c) Art as well.

(ix) ‘S-09’ gives concept of evaluation too, but keeps mum on the SCHEME of the EXAMINATION.

(x) ‘S07’ as well as ‘S-09’ present the same regulation regarding ‘Second Indian Language’ and puts (i) Sanskrit (ii) Hindi II (iii) Urdu II and (IV) Bengali II in this group with an unambiguous direction that a student will have to opt one of these languages. It also clarifies that the language of Mother Tongue can’t be opted as Second Indian Language.

13. Now the contradiction regarding OMR Sheet for Registration and the Directive Booklet to the Principals/ Headmasters of the schools for Registration 2010 of the candidates who will take S.S. Examination 2011:

(i) OMR Sheet in Column 14 provides i) MIL consisting of (a) HND (b) URD (c) BNG (d) MAI and ii) SIL consisting of (a) SNK (b) HND (c) ARB (d) PRN and (e) BHO

(ii) Directive for Column 14 explains that one of the languages given in each group must be selected, written in the quadrangle above and the circle against the code of the language be darkened with HB pencil. It also directs that Hindi can’t be opted for both the categories.

(iii) The directive booklet contains a copy of OMR sheet which in Column 14 provides three categories i.e. i) MIL , II) SIL and iii) OPT just like the previous year. This copy too bears 2010.

It means that the drastic change has been made at the eleventh hour to fulfill interior design. On enquiry from the Board it is told, ‘Forget it’. Why?

(iv) On enquiry from the Board it is repeatedly told that Hindi must be opted for either of the category. It means that mention of BHO, ARB or PRN under SIL is vague and knowingly to mislead the world.[ Hathi ke dekhane ka doosra dant( the second tusk of the elephant for exhibition)]

(v) When regulation doesn’t mention ARB/PRN/BHO as one of the Second Indian Language, why has it been put in the OMR?

(vi) Can one accept ARB/PRN as a second Indian language?

(vii) It means that the Board authorities have deliberately planned to oust Arabic and Persian (alongwith Bhojpuri) from the secondary curricula. In seven decades of its existence, for the first time it will conduct the examination sans Arabic or Persian.

(viii) It is also significant that they find themselves in the position of negotiation regarding Maithili and Bhojpuri. In ‘S-07’ Maithili was not as ‘Mother Tongue’ but as one of the optional subjects, while it exists in ‘S-09’ and OMR Sheet both in the position of MT (MIL). Bhojpuri had no mention in ‘S-07’. It has been incorporated as ‘Mother Tongue’ in ‘S-09’ and given a useless berth in OMR Sheet as SIL.

14. Can one expect from the Chief Minister, Education Minister (both preoccupied with election schedules), the Commissioner, Principal Secretary and Director of Secondary Education, Department of Human Resource, Government of Bihar to look into the matter and come to the rescue of the norms of the examination and thousands of the students who are bound to be deprived of opting Bhojpuri, Arabic or Persian as one of the subjects of their examination?