Bihar topper held, result cancelled

New Delhi - Ganesh, who reportedly plays the drums well, scored 81 out of 100 in the test, but could not answer basic questions in music

Ganesh Kumar is clean shaven and looks young. Though he is 42, he normally reverses the number so the documents read his age as 24. Certainly, this was the age he gave in the class 12 examination form.
The form's address columns and contact columns were not filled. Nevertheless, because it is Bihar, Ganesh Kumar could appear for the Bihar Boards - and top it in the humanity stream, with 82.6%The Bihar State Examination Board (BSEB) humanity stream has three main subjects, psychology, home science and music, and then optional papers. Ganesh's school is run by

Abhitendra Kumar, son of BJP activist Jawahar Prasad Singh, and affiliated in 2013 by BSEB. The school has six rooms made of bare bricks and an asbestos roof. There are hundred of schools like this in Bihar, famous for a most enterprising form of education in which any one can score top marks in any subject without knowing anything, provided you know the right person.

Ganesh's school has no music instrument. No matter. Ganesh, who reportedly plays the drums well, scored 81 out of 100 in the test, but could not answer basic questions in music put forward by the media.

The school authorities said his answer sheets in all subjects were "perfect,", and expressed their surprise at the way things have turned out. They had thought Ganesh was a promising student.
Early last week when Ganesh got to know he had topped the examination, very wisely he disappeared. Ganesh is a resident of Saraiya village in Giridih in Jharkhand. His present school where he had reversed his age - one official said it could be a sleight of hand - was Ram Nandan Singh Jagdeep Narayan Higher Secondary School in Samastipur, 250km away from his home. This must have appeared to Ganesh a safe distance to commit the fraud, which he says is of no great significance.

Ganesh is the father of two children. When the media contacted his family, his sister said, "Ganesh left home four years ago." This could not be yet confirmed.

When he surfaced later in the week, and the media questioned him, Ganesh said:"You guys in the media make a mountain out of a mole hill. Everything was going well till you came into the scene. I just got my age wrong. I studied well and topped the exam. Is it a crime to sit for the higher secondary examination a second time?" It is not clear when he gave the exams first.

The media had earlier described Ganesh among those students who beat odds to come out a winner. The BSEB has cancelled his result, and a fFirst iInformation Report has been lodged against him for cheating, and forging false birth certificate.

Last year's Bihar topper Rubia Rai too had got into trouble - again at the time of the media interviews. She had said her favourite subject was 'Prodigal Science', which as a subject doesn't exist. But Political Science does. She had further elaborated that Prodigal Science was all about cooking. She had later told the media: " I just asked my father to fix me a pass. But he went and made me a topper. What can I do?"

Some 64 per cent % of students have failed to clear the bBoard exams this year. Still that has not prevented a large number of Bihar students from appearing in IIT and other entrance exams, though in the boards for physics and maths most of them scored in only single digits.

Following the case of Rubia Rai, who topped the exams having written only one paper out of six, the Bihar Board had said they were determined to be very strict in their evaluation. And Ganesh has been the result. It is not clear if Ganesh is the only one who has got his age wrong. Bihar is capable of springing many surprises.

• India