Haryana / 86-yr-old ex-Haryana CM becomes oldest person to pass state's class 10 board exams

Gurugram: Former Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief OP Chautala on Saturday reportedly became the oldest student in the history of the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) to pass the Class 10 examination after the board announced his English compartment exam result in which he scored 88 marks.

The 86-year-old had appeared for his English compartment exam on August 18 at Arya Girls’ Senior Secondary School in Sirsa. The board had provided him a Class 9 girl student as a writer as he had suffered injury in hand after meeting with an accident near Gurugram.

Earlier, Chautala was among the 39,000 students who had passed the Class 12 exam with 33% through open schooling. The board had passed all the students enrolled through distance mode with 33% as they could not conduct the exams due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Chautala’s Class 12 result could not be declared as he remained absent in the Class 10 English exam under the National Institute of Open Schooling in 2017. He had passed Class 10 when he was lodged in Tihar jail while serving sentence in the teachers’ recruitment scam.

BSEH chairman Jagbir Singh said he had congratulated Chautala’s personal assistant for the leader passing Class 10 English exam as the former CM was busy addressing a meeting.

“He became the oldest student under our board to pass Class 10 exam. After he scored 88 marks in English, he passed Class 10 with first division. We will release Chautala’s Class 12 results after he writes an application that he has passed his compartment exam,” the board chairman said.

Reacting to the INLD chief’s result, his son Abhay Singh Chautala said his father had quit studies due to family compulsions.

“My grandfather Devi Lal was in politics. Chautala had left the school to take care in farming, and to educate his younger siblings. My father used to visit the Tihar jail library during his jail term where he read newspapers and books,” he said.

‘Not easy for Chautala to get admission in UG course in govt college’

As per educational experts, it is difficult for Chautala to get admission in an undergraduate course in any government college in Haryana as he had scored just 33% in Class 12.

Thousands of students who had passed in the Class 12 exam through distance mode are protesting the board giving them 33% score and are accusing the BSEH for the poor result.

“There is no chance that these 39,000 students along with Chautala can get admission in any government college in Haryana due to low percentage,” experts said.