Old Photo From Bihar Shared To Take Dig at Gujarat Government’s Education Model

The photograph is from 2015 and shows a mass cheating scandal in Vaishali, Bihar.

The photo from Bihar was also quote-tweeted by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

Social media users took a dig at the Gujarat government's education model by sharing a photo that shows dozens of people scaling the wall of a building of an exam centre, to stand in front of the windows.

Gujarat is scheduled to hold its Assembly elections later in 2022 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power in the state since 1998.

However, the photograph was taken in Vaishali, Bihar in 2015 and shows the friends and family of students, appearing for their Class 10 board exams, climbing an exam centre's walls to aid cheating.

The visuals from the exam centre where people were helping students cheat during their board exams by handing them notes and chits were widely broadcast by news media organisations in 2015.

CLAIM

The photo is being linked to Gujarat and is being shared with text in Hindi that reads –

"अब गुजरात में भी होगा रन मोदी को अरविंद केजरीवाल की चुनौती मिलेगी अच्छी शिक्षा के रूप में"

[Translation: Arvind Kejriwal will now challenge Modi on Gujarat's battlefield, armed with a good education system.]

An archive of this post can be seen here.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had also quote-tweeted a now-deleted tweet with the same photo and noted that even BJP members were raising questions about Gujarat's crumbling education system.

An archive of Kejriwal's tweet can be seen here.

Archives of more posts with the same claim can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A reverse image search showed that the photograph in the claim is from Bihar. It shows an incident from 2015, where the friends and families of students appearing for their Class 10 board exams helped them cheat by passing them answers and notes through windows of the exam centre while the exam was going on.

Many news organisations covered the incident, as seen in this Indian Express report dated 23 March 2015.

The photograph is from Bihar.

The Quint also reported on the exam cheating case in 2015, noting that 600 high school students had been expelled after they found to have cheated in their Class 10 exams, aided by their parents and friends.

Addressing a news conference after the scandal, former Bihar education minister Prashant Kumar Shahi asked the media whether the people should have been shot.

"On average, four or five persons are helping each student use unfair means," he said, noting that it would be impossible to control cheating if parents encouraged the students.

Clearly, a photo of a 2015 board exam cheating scandal from the Manhar area in Bihar's Vaishali district was shared to take a dig at the Gujarat government's education model.

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