Madhyamik students asked controversial question on Mahatma Gandhi, WBBSE responds

Controversies have started brewing over a question asked in the history paper of the ongoing secondary examination conducted by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination (WBBSE). The row began with an essay-type answer, where the examinees were asked to choose one of the three choices pertaining to the question about the Father of the Nation and write an explanatory essay on it.

The main question was whether Mahatma Gandhi always disassociated himself from the worker's movement of the country.

The Question: Dissociation not The three choices given to examinees on the reasons for this disassociation were a) Mahatma Gandhi always represented the lobby of mill owners b) Mahatma Gandhi wanted to avoid collision between labour and capital and c) Mahatma Gandhi was worried about the fallout of the movement on law & order situation.

Historians and different teachers' associations have strongly criticized the development and claimed that the question is not only controversial but also disseminates wrong information. "Nowhere in the secondary syllabus, there is any mention that Mahatma Gandhi disassociated himself from the worker's movement. It is evident that the person who drafted this question never had the history in his or her syllabus," said a member of the All Bengal Teachers' Association.

The WBBSE authorities have, however, claimed that at times such questions are posed in a different style to measure the intelligence quotient of the students attempting the question. They have also assured that while evaluating of the answer paper the interest of the examinees will be kept in mind and under no circumstance the examinees will suffer.