In yet another incident which paints the education authorities of India in bad light, "experts" in the Bihar education department have said that Kashmir is not a part of India but a separate country.
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This embarrassing blunder was a part of a question paper prepared by the Bihar board for the standard VII students of all government schools in the state.
The question asked the students to name what the people of five countries — China, Nepal, England, Kashmir and India — are called.
The examinations are being conducted under the Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC) — a wing of the state education department — monitors in the state.
Authorities take responsibility
According to a Times of India report, BEPC state programme officer Prem Chandra has admitted that it was blunder on their part.
"It's very embarrassing, I admit," said Chandra while explaining that it was a printing error.
The mistake was first pointed out by a student of the Vaishali district on Tuesday.
Vaishali district education officer Sangeeta Sinha has assured that she will probe the matter. "I was on leave and have just resumed work. I will have to look into the matter," Sinha was quoted as saying by the English daily.
The daily also quoted a few sources of the education department as saying that though the question papers for the BEPC examinations are prepared centrally, it is printed at various locations.
This is not the first time education authorities have made such blunders about facts regarding India.
In August, a Sanskrit book being used as text in several CBSE-affiliated schools in Madhya Pradesh had been found saying that India had won the 1962 war between India and China.
"What famously came to be known as Sino-India war of 1962 was won by India against China," claimed the Sanskrit textbook titled "Sukritika."
The 1962 war, also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was won by China.
