Patna: A boy in Bihar, whose gender was erroneously changed in the exam admit card, has been forced to sit among girls to write the Grade 12 tests being conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board.
Gulshan Kumar, a science stream student from Jehanabad district in central Bihar, claims to have filled the examination form correctly, but was surprised when he received his admit card where his gender was mentioned as “female”. As he received the admit card just days before the examination, he did not have time to get it changed.
“I feel uncomfortable being the only male examinee at this particular centre designed only for girls. Despite all efforts, I have failed to concentrate on writing the papers, as the girls and invigilators stare at me in bewilderment,” Gulshan told the media.
He feels uncomfortable even while leaving the exam centre amid the girls, and waits for them to first leave the room.
Trouble began from Day 1 when he went to the exam centre meant only for girls. Reports said everyone was surprised when Gulshan reached the “all-girls centre” and was initially not permitted to enter the hall.
After fervent appeals, the exam centre superintendent Narendra Kumar talked to senior officials in the department who finally allowed the boy to sit for the examination. A total of 1,472 girls are writing the examinations at this centre.
“We have reported the matter to the department authorities who have promised to take necessary steps after the examination is over,” local district education officer Roshan Ara said.
However, the education department authorities blame the examinee for the situation. “It appears at the time of filling the form, the boy mistakenly marked female, instead of male, in the gender column. That’s why his admit card is showing the wrong gender,” an education department official said.
But the boy contested the explanation offered by the official. “I don’t believe so. My name, parents’ name, address and all other information are correct in the admit card, except my gender,” the boy rues. He blames the education department staff for the goof-up.
This is not the first time that such errors have occurred in Bihar. Recently, the authorities were surprised when Bollywood actors Emraan Hashmi and Sunny Leone were mentioned as parents of a Bachelor of Arts (second year) student admitted to a college affiliated to Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Muzaffarpur.
Prior to this, Canadian Indian-American actress Sunny Leone was declared as the topper in the state engineering exam.
As many as 17,000 candidates applied for 214 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) in the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Bihar, recently. However, what surprised everyone was that Leone, who claimed to be a resident of Patna, topped the engineering examination.
