Janjivan Bureau / Patna : Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB)’s Intermediate Arts 2017 topper Ganesh Kumar, also operated a chit fund company in Jharkhand. After seven years operation of the company Ganesh sink in the debt. A year after toppers scam exposed the existence of education mafia in Bihar, another topper Ganesh Kumar’s marks stirred a controversy on Thursday.
According to a source Ganesh is the resident of Sariya, Giridih. He was running a chit fund company, but he lost heavy money and then he decided to left the place.
Ganesh has brought back memories of BSEB’s 2016 Humanities “topper” Ruby Rai, who had stirred the hornet’s nest when she had said that her subject “prodikal science” was related to cookery. The investigations ultimately exposed the “topper scam”, a nexus of school administrators, BSEB officials and education mafias, for granting top merit positions in exchange of money.
Questions were also raised about Ganesh Kumar’s age, the date of birth he had mentioned in his admission form was June 2, 1993, which means he has turned 24. The result has also surprised his school teachers who said, “Even we had not expected such kind of result from a student of this institution.” Sources from Samastipur said that Ganesh Kumar’s school cancelled the felicitation program on Thursday following the controversy.
A resident of Giridih in Jharkhand, Ganesh, 24, has scored a total of 413/500 marks leaving behind 5.33 lakh students of the Humanities stream. Ganesh has scored a maximum of 92 marks in Hindi followed by 83 in Music (65/70 in practical and 18/30 in theory).
While talking to media persons in Samastipur on Thursday, Ganesh said he had gone outside Bihar for the last rites of his uncle and came back when he got to know that the results had been declared. “I had not expected to top. Whatever answers I knew, I had written. Jo nahi aata tha, usko thoda bana kar likh diya acche se…” he said.
When one reporter asked him a question related to “Raag Bhairvi”, Ganesh said, “It is sung at night” though Bhairvi is a popular morning raag. When asked to name a few “gharanas” of music, he said, “I had read about them during my music studies… Pandit Ravi Shankar Ji and Hari Chaurasia.”
When Ganesh tried to play the harmonium to sing the songs, which he had sung in his practical exam, the song “Yaad aa rahi hai, teri yaad aa rahi hai”, was completely out of tune with the instrument.
This student of RNSJN Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya, Samastipur, came under a scanner when he was untraceable for two days after the declaration of the results. Questions were also raised as to why he had taken admission in a school, which had got affiliation in 2013 and was 250 km away from his hometown and why no date of admission or local address was mentioned on his form, despite him being a regular student.
School’s principal in charge Abhitendra Kumar, who has a political background, too said he didn’t expect any students from his school to top. “But, who can say who has merit within him,” he said.
Bihar education minister, Ashok Choudhary, who met CM Nitish Kumar again on Thursday, defended the “topper” after coming out of the meet, and said, “were those interviewing him experts in the subject?” He denied any bungling in the merit list and said few people only wanted to point out negative things.
BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore, in a late-evening press meet, said it has been the Board’s policy to conduct practical exams at home centres. “However, we have got to know through the media, that in this particular case, infrastructure was not adequate at the school. We will probe it and if found true, action will be taken against it.”
“He is a simple student, who was okay in his studies. Who knows who has diamond in his pocket (who has merit within him)? That is for the examination board to find out”
~ Abhitendra Kumar, principal in charge of Ganesh Kumar’s college, when asked what type of student was Ganesh
“Conducting practical exams at home centre has been the norm of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) since it was established. However, after this incident, we may in the long run reconsider this policy decision, especially for private colleges”
Anand Kishor, BSEB Chairman, when asked that Ganesh Kumar could not answer basic music questions despite scoring 65/70 in the practical.
