MA paper at University of Rajasthan asks students to discuss BJP ideology: The Indian Express
According to the report, two students objected to the exam question saying it was politically biased, while the Opposition immediately cried foul.
An exam administered to masters students in University of Rajasthan on Friday asked them to “discuss the ideology and programmes of the Bharatiya Janata Party”, prompting Opposition leaders to cry “brainwashing”, The Indian Express reported. The exam was for the MA course in Rajasthani Language, Literature and Culture, and 20 students were appearing for it. Of these, two of them objected to the question, according to Gopal Sharan Gupta, an invigilator at the exam. Gupta said one student said the paper was set by someone who had ideological biases, but the BJP is reportedly part of the coursework for this subject.
The English daily quoted Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma as saying: “The BJP government has been trying to impress its ideology on students. The Indian Youth Congress said it would hold a protest against the question in the paper. The University’s Vice Chancellor said he was not aware of such developments, but student could approach the grievance committee if they wanted.
Rajasthan’s education system has been critiqued of late for unusual moves to push certain kinds of ideology. On May 10, it was reported that Hindi textbooks for Class 5 students in Rajasthan government schools have a chapter in which a cow writes a letter to students addressing them as her offspring, and narrating the benefits of considering her their mother. A few days before that, it was discovered that the name of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was not mentioned in the new Social Science textbook for Class 8 students of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education.