Age not a hindrance in ever youthful Bihar

If Bihar’s police can insouciantly claim gallons of liquor have been quaffed by rats, it is not impossible that a school’s authorities would not notice that a student of Class XII looked more middle-aged than a teenager. That a 41-year-old would go on to top the senior secondary exam in Bihar with none of the examiners any the wiser about his apparent lack of appropriate youthfulness is also curious.

Presumably in a country where youth loosely encompasses even those in their forties – especially in politics – and generous grace marks are the norm in examinations, school teachers and invigilators can hardly be expected to be sticklers for accuracy on any issue.

As students across the country have been awarded as much as 11 grace marks for papers deemed tough in the Class XII examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE) this year, a similar leeway for age by the Bihar State Education Board (BSEB) – 65% of whose students failed this year – does not seem unlikely.

However, that a 97-year-old gentleman is also sitting for MA exams from Nalanda Open University this year underlines the fact that age is indeed no bar for people living in Bihar when it comes to education. The difference, of course, is that at least the nonagenarian is not trying to pass off as, say, a sprightly 41-year-old.