In a big blow to the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s attempts at wooing Dalit voters in the poll-bound state, the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) released the results of Class 10 and Class 12, categorised into caste groups, reported The Times of India.
The official result sheet, released on 14 May clearly has the line ‘Vargvaar Niyamit’ (in accordance with category) and has the names of the examinees divided into four categories – SC, ST, OBC and General.
The opposition did not waste time to call out the move, with Congress State president Kamal Nath taking to Twitter to slam the government for trying to divide the state on caste lines.
Chouhan’s School education minister, Deepak Joshi, said he was unaware of the fact that the board had released caste-based results in the past two years as well, reported National Herald.
The caste-based results released by the board was not to divide students but to pass on benefits of the state government welfare schemes. Board categories students from different categories and shortlists them for schemes.
MPBSE chairman SR Mohanty said the categorisation was only made so that students could reap the benefits of government welfare schemes easily, as per TOI report.
The categories are there to pass on benefits of government welfare schemes and we have been doing this for years. Why the unnecessary hype now.MPBSE chairman SR Mohanty
Recently, the chief minister also had to face uncomfortable questions during a 'live phone-in' programme when an OBC student complained that he did not receive free laptop while his friend from a reserved category did get it despite scoring three percent less than him, reported The Indian Express. Accusing him of "bias", the students asked the chief minister to make education equal for all.
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