A few weeks after a row erupted over alleged communal profiling of a higher secondary topper, the West Bengal government on Friday removed Mahua Das, the president of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE).
Chiranjeev Bhattacharya, Pro Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, has been appointed as the new president of the WBCHSE.
While announcing the results of WBCHSE on July 22, Ms. Das mentioned the topper’s religion several times during the press conference.
Rumana Sultana, a student of Kandi Raja Manindra Chandra Girls High School from Murshidabad, secured 499 out of 500 marks.
The development triggered protests in academic circles and several outfits took to the streets demanding that Ms. Das be suspended. Some Ministers described the remarks made by Ms. Das as “unwarranted”.
Official data show that of the 7.77 lakh students enrolled for the exams, 4.29 lakh (50.5%) were girls.
After the results were announced, many of the roughly 20,000 students who could not pass the exam staged protests across the State, blocked roads, and even vandalised schools.
The State decided to take a ‘sympathetic’ view and results of most of the unsuccessful students were reviewed and they qualified the exams. Examinations could not be held this year due to the pandemic and students were evaluated on the basis of marks obtained in the previous exam.
