Bengal education council to seek explanation from madrassah over its students assaulting exam invigilators

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education on Thursday said it will seek an explanation from the management of a high madrassah in Malda district over its students assaulting seven invigilators of another school where they were frisked before entry into the exam centre during the ongoing class 12 board examinations.

Council president Chiranjib Bhattacharya said the authorities of Kamditola High Madrassah will be asked to identify its students involved in the incident, and vowed to disqualify them as candidates in this year's class 12 board exams.

Seven invigilators, including a woman, were assaulted by a group of candidates outside an exam centre in Baishnabnagar zone of Malda on Wednesday for frisking them at the gates of Chamagram High School in accordance with the council's guidelines to prevent examinees from carrying any digital device, including mobile phones, inside the exam centre to check unfair practices, the council said in a statement.

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Of the seven assaulted teachers of the Chamagram High School, four had to be taken to a primary health centre for treatment, the statement said. Taking a serious note of the incident, Bhattacharya told reporters, "We are in the process of issuing a letter to the management of the institution to which the candidates belonged, and will ask them to identify their students who were involved in the assault."

"Once they are identified and charges proved, we will take appropriate steps against them including disqualification of their candidature and legal action against them," he added. "Such kind of misbehaviour by any student will not be tolerated by the council," Bhattacharya added.

The state-run class 12 board exams began on March 3 and will continue till March 18.