Students asked to identify ‘Azad Kashmir’ on a map of India in West Bengal, probe ordered

A class 10 board exam question paper from a Bengali school, asking students to mark “Azad Kashmir” on a map, sparked a major political controversy.

The question paper, issued in an exercise book of a Bengali-medium school for Madhyamik aspirants, asked them to identify several locations on the map – Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (referred to as ‘Azad Kashmir’ in Pakistan), the location where Gandhiji launched the Satyagraha movement, and the Chittagong battleground.

Union Minister of State for Education Subhash Sarkar instituted an inquiry and promised stern action against those responsible for the oversight. Sarkar told PTI that the central government will also look into the issue.

“I urge the state education minister to conduct an inquiry. If the allegations are genuine, appropriate action should be taken against the publisher and the person who has set the paper. The test paper should be immediately withdrawn and the question deleted,” he said.

Sarkar went on to say that the incident, if found to be true, can be attributed to the “appeasement politics of the TMC-run government, which has emboldened some people to insert a question with anti-national overtones in the test paper”. When contacted, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President Ramanuj Ganguly admitted that the “mistake” occurred in the test papers published by the autonomous body and that action is being taken against those responsible.

“We published a compilation of question papers provided by various schools. In one such question paper, this mistake was identified. A probe is being conducted, and stern action will be initiated against editorial team members who were entrusted with the task of proofreading the papers,” Ganguly told.