Patna: Nearly 83 per cent of the schoolteachers who took an eligibility test in Bihar have failed, raising a big question mark over the quality of education in the state. The result of the examination was declared on Thursday evening.

The test was conducted by state-run Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) to check the quality of teachers conducting classes for those enrolled in standards one through five and six through eight.

As per an official report, of the total 43,794 candidates who appeared for the first test, only 7,038 passed; that is around 16 per cent.

Similarly, only 30,113 of the total 168,761 cleared the second test, i.e. 17.84 per cent. The result is a glaring example of how teaching quality has hit a new low in the state.

This is the third time in quick intervals that the candidates have performed so abysmally. In May, around 70 per cent of students failed to clear grade 12 examinations in Bihar, leading to statewide protests. Later, the state government had to hold compartmental examinations, which most of the students passed.

According to reports, more than 1.2 million students had appeared in the class 12 examinations conducted by BSEB this year, of which 794,622 failed to clear the test.

The students from the science stream received the worst-ever results; only 30.11 per cent passed.

Likewise, nearly half of the students who appeared for the Grade 10 examination failed this year. More than 1.72 million students sat for grade 10 papers of which 859,961 students failed the test.

The total pass percentage stood at 50.12 this year. Last year, 47 per cent of students had passed the class 10 Bihar board examinations, authorities said. Only 13.91 per cent of the students passed the examination with a first-class distinction.

Authorities blamed the poor exam result on the harsh measures taken to conduct fair examinations in the aftermath of a merit scandal.

The scandal surfaced last year when a local news channel interviewed class 12 arts topper Ruby Rai. During the interview, she failed to properly spell out the subjects she had studied and pronounced Political Science “prodikal science”.

Next, the government called all the toppers for written interviews to test their knowledge but Rai skipped the exam. Many toppers were arrested later, including Rai, even as the government cancelled the result and ordered an investigation into the row by a Special Investigation Team, which subsequently arrested around 40 people.