A delay in determining the seating arrangements and subsequent delayed start of a Hindi paper by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) at an exam center in Motihari on Wednesday prompted hundreds of Class XII students to write their exams in low-light conditions.
Several other students, seated on the balcony of the college marked as an exam center, had to save themselves in the light of the headlights of four-wheelers parked on campus.
The incident took place at Maharaj Harendra Kishore College and more than 500 students were disrupted. The district administration removed the inspector from the center and ordered an investigation into the expiration date.
The BSEB has held class XII board exams after Covid cases began to plunge in the state.
The investigation, which was set to begin at 1:45 p.m. and end at 5 p.m., began at 4:30 p.m., Motihari police said. The Chhatauni Police Station, with the help of the local government, had to immediately arrange generators to supply light to the exam candidates.
A student security guard said: “While the students sitting in the classrooms somehow managed to write their papers in the dim light bulbs, others sitting on the balcony struggled for lack of good light. When they complained to the authorities, they turned on the headlights of some four-wheelers parked on campus.”
Suman Saurabh Yadav, subsection officer of Motihari, said: “Since it was the chief responsibility of the chief inspector of the center to arrange the seating, he has been replaced.”
District Magistrate SK Ashok of East Champaran said: “It is true that the exam for the second shift paper was delayed and students faced inconvenience. We have asked the district inspector of education to investigate the matter.”
