Azad Kashmir Controversy: The Union Ministry of Education has sought a factual report from the West Bengal government regarding the allegedly viral Class 10 model question paper in which students were asked to mark "Azad Kashmir" on a map.

A ministry source said the ministry has taken a serious note of news reports on a question in the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education's Class 10 exam 2022-23 asking students to identify 'Azad Kashmir' on the map of India. Having said. The source said the ministry has sought a factual report along with an action taken report from the education department of West Bengal regarding the question in the test paper. 

A picture of a purported Class 10 model question paper in West Bengal went viral on social media on Tuesday, in which students were asked to mark "Azad Kashmir" on a map. While the state's main opposition party BJP claimed it to be a "jihadi conspiracy" and the ruling TMC in the state termed it as a mistake and clarified that the party does not support it. On the other hand, Ramanuja, chairman of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Ganguly had admitted that there was a "goff-up" in the exam papers published by the autonomous body, adding that action was being taken against those responsible for the mistake.

In fact, in the question Kashmir, an integral part of the country, was addressed as Azad Kashmir. The politics of the state got heated due to this. The BJP has accused the state government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of running a separatist agenda. At the same time, Union Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhash Sarkar demanded a quick investigation and strict action in this matter. 

 

However, it later emerged that the controversial question paper set on Kashmir pertains to the class 12th test of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidya Mandir School under Malda district of West Bengal. In this regard, the headmaster of the school Swami Tapaharanand told that the teacher of our history department has prepared this question paper. They don't have any wrong intention but such things have been said in history that's why this question has been included.