Students In Bihar Use Mobile Flashlight To Write Paper, Shows Abysmal School Infrastructure In State

A video from Dev Sundari Memorial College Of Jhajha in Jamui district, Bihar is going viral for all the wrong reasons.?

The video, in which students can be seen relying on flashlights of their mobile phones to complete their papers, has thrust the Bihar education system into the spotlight yet again. It just goes to show that the on-ground scenario has not changed.?

What did the video show??

It was during an internal examination for graduation part one at DSM College that the lights in the examination hall went out, as the students were still writing the paper.?

News18

The students immediately began using the flashlight feature on their mobile phones to illuminate their answer sheets.?

A similar incident occurred during a previous college examination just a few days prior when students were again forced to rely on mobile flashlights to complete their papers, a News18 report indicated.?

Principal Rakesh Paswan blamed the power outage and subsequent use of mobile flashlights to the incessant rainfall experienced in the area over the past few days.?

Studies show dismal condition of schools in Bihar?

But incidents such as these are not one-off incidents.?

A survey of 81 government primary and upper-primary schools in Katihar and Araria districts of Bihar conducted by non-profit organisation Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan in August pointed to the abysmal condition of schools in Bihar.?

90% of the schools in the sample were found to have no proper boundary wall, playground or library while other schools did not even have a building.?

World Bank Photo Collection

In 2022, the Patna High Court had pulled up the state government over dearth of infrastructure required mandatorily in about 6,000 government high schools in Bihar as per the school education laws.?

In the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for states/UTs in the field of school education, Bihar scored the lowest in terms of infrastructure and facilities with a total 81 points out of 150.?

AFP

Noted academician NK Choudhary had noted, as quoted by TOI: "It is not enough to allocate certain funds for education sector, but it is also important that this amount should be well spent on the infrastructure and to improve quality education."

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