Enquiry ordered after Bihar toppers fail to answer basic questions

A red-faced Bihar government has ordered an enquiry after a local television channel aired interview footage of Class 12 "toppers" in Science and Arts streams failing to answer basic questions.

The toppers also have been asked to appear before a team of experts for interview and written the examination to re-test their academic calibre.

"The Bihar School Examination Control Board (BSECB) has stayed the results of Class 12 Science and Arts toppers and decided to conduct their interviews. A special team will re-check their answer sheets also," senior officials said on Wednesday.

The BSECB asked the Class 12 toppers in Science, Arts and Commerce streams to appear for interviews and written the examination on June 3 after it was reported that they lacked even basic knowledge about their subjects, BSECB Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh to IANS.

The interview video since then has gone viral. The footage shows, Ruby Rai, 17, who topped Bihar's Class 12 exams in the Arts stream, saying political science, a subject she virtually aced, is about cooking.  Another student from her junior or intermediate college, who placed as Bihar's Science topper, was not able to answer elementary questions like the link between water and H20.
 

The students were interviewed by local channels after their results were declared last week.

All the 10 toppers among the nearly 15 lakhs students in Bihar will now take a new exam within the next week; an embarrassed government has said. 

Education Minister Ashok Choudhary conceded that it appeared that either somebody else took the exam for the students or the answer sheets submitted by students were later replaced.

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