‘Cleared JEE Main, failed #Bihar Class 12 exam’: Fresh row brews for tainted state board

Cracking the joint entrance examination (JEE Main) for admission to the country’s premier engineering has proved to be far easier than passing Bihar’s tainted Class 12 examinations for several students.

Vivek Kumar cleared the JEE Main this year, scoring 109 out of 360 under the reserved category. The cut off under the category was 49 and that allowed Kumar to take the JEE(Advanced) examination on May 29 for a seat in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

His joy was short-lived, however, as Kumar failed to clear the Bihar Class 12 board examination. He got 12 out of 60 in Physics (theory) and just 17 out of 60 in Chemistry (theory) – two key subjects in the IIT entrance test.

But Kumar is not the only one to have been tripped by the Bihar board. Shubam Sharma also qualified for the JEE (Main) with a rank of 78,000 in the reserved category, but has failed the Class 12 examination, securing just six out of 60 in Physics.

“I had done well and I am not sure how they failed me in Physics,” said Kumar. His anger was shared by Ompriya, a student from Jamui. He has cleared the entrance test for admission into a top-notch marine engineering college, but has failed the Bihar examination, securing 34 marks out of 100 in Chemistry.