No one is interested in Bihar's health or education sector: Former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday claimed that the education system in the state has "collapsed" and that no one is interested in the health sector.

"The education department, which has always been with Janata Dal-United (JDU), has collapsed in Bihar. No one is interested in either education or health system of the state," former Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi said.

Reacting to the alleged mentioning of Kashmir and India as two different countries in the question paper of the class seventh Mid-Term exam, Sushil Modi said that the one who has committed this mistake should be sacked and the matter should be investigated thoroughly.

He further sought an apology from the state government.

In a conversation with ANI, he said, "What they are trying to instil in the minds of the children of class 7 is very much disturbing. It was in the question paper of English that what are the citizens living in these countries called, like what are the people living in China called as and what do we call the ones living in Kashmir? If it was asked regionally, it could have been fine but you are trying to sow the seeds of poison in the children's minds that Kashmir is a separate country. The one who made this mistake must be sacked, it is not a casual crime."

"The investigation must take place against the ones who drafted the paper and approved it," he added.

Refusing to accept the incident as "human error" as claimed by the state Education Minister and Headteacher SK Das, he said, "This cannot be a human error and even if it is, the papers are checked at several levels before being printed and hence the government should apologise."

The case pertains to a question paper wherein it was allegedly asked by the class 7 students with the example of China that, "As the people of China are called Chinese, what are the people of Nepal, England, Kashmir, and India called?"

This question was allegedly asked to these students in Araria, Kishanganj, and Katihar.

"We got this via Bihar Education Board. The question had to ask what people from Kashmir are called. But, it mistakenly carried as what are people of the country of Kashmir called. This was human error," Headteacher SK Das had clarified in the day.

( With inputs from ANI )