Bihar Class 7 question paper sparks row after identifying Kashmir as separate country, minister assures probe

Patna, October 19

Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh on Wednesday assured a probe into the Kishanganj incident wherein a class seven exam paper contained a question that allegedly mentioned Kashmir as a separate country.

Reacting to the matter, Singh said there would be no lapses in the investigation of this matter and it would be probed thoroughly.

“This is a serious matter for which the probe shall take place even if it involved top officials,” state Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh said.

The class 7 paper setter cited the example of China and asked “As the people of China are called Chinese, what are the people of Nepal, England, Kashmir, and India called?” This question was allegedly put before these students in Araria, Kishanganj, and Katihar.

“We got this via Bihar Education Board. The question had to ask what people from Kashmir are called. But, it mistakenly carried as what are people of the country of Kashmir called. This was human error,” Headteacher SK Das clarified.

Bihar BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal took to his social media and shared the image of the question paper alongside captioning it as: “…Bihar government is still silent on my concern that they feel Kashmir as not a part of India. This question itself advocates that the officials in Bihar government consider Kashmir as a different country as Nepal, England, China, and India,” he wrote in a Facebook post in Hindi.

Reacting to Jaiswal’s allegations, state Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh asked why nobody pointed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Taksh Shila, which is in Pakistan a part of Bihar.

“Why did you not question when PM Modi called Taksh Shila a part of Bihar? That was as legit human error as the one that has been made now,” Singh said.