In poll-bound Bihar, NEP is leaving university students with endless exams, but no results or classes

Kriti Kumari, 20, should be in the fifth semester of BA Political Science at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), Muzaffarpur, Bihar. But her fourth semester results are yet to be declared – the exams were held in July-August – and the third semester ones are incomplete.

Deepak Sharma, 24, pursuing a master’s degree in history at Munger University, has the opposite problem. His curriculum is essentially a series of exams and in just eight months, he’s moved into second year.

The introduction of the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) along with credit and semester systems in 2023 as part of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) push threw Bihar’s already fragile higher education system into chaos. Before NEP, Bihar universities could take years to hold exams ; now all they do is hold exams, say students and even teachers, but results are delayed and riddled with errors. In consequence, the academic calendar is in utter disarray.

Kumari, who started college in 2023 and is in the first batch to take admission in the NEP regime, said her first and second semester results were on time but in the third year, her department fell behind.

“I have always been a regular student at the university. But after the problems and delays, I am demotivated,” she said. “Even our third semester results don’t include our mid-semester marks which were supposed to be added. The administration is constantly delaying, saying it will be done in 10-15 days, but it's been more than two months.” The third semester exams were held in February, 2025 and incomplete results declared last month. Classes are held regularly, she says, but student attendance is negligible.

Meanwhile, Sharma’s batch is racing through their course, “Our session started in April with four classes and then we were informed that our first semester examination will be conducted. And within seven months three semester exams have been conducted,” he said.

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NEP reforms and Bihar

In May, 2023, the Governor of Bihar – the Chancellor for all the state universities – approved a set of new ordinance and regulations for the institutions. The “Ordinance and Regulations for the Bachelor of Arts / Science / Commerce (Honours) 4-Year Programme under Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)” are based on the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes (CCFUP) 2022.

Implementation of any reform in Bihar is a challenge. While top and central universities took over a decade to move to the semester system, then to the credit system (CBCS) and finally, FYUP and NEP, Bihar’s institutions were dragged into the new system without having gone through many of the intervening stages.

The Nitish Kumar-led government, an ally of the BJP-led union government which framed the NEP 2020, thrust the policy upon a system that was sorely unprepared. “The NEP implementation happened without any preparation in Bihar,” said Chintu (she doesn't use a second name), assistant professor at VKSU and general secretary of Bihar Progressive University Teacher's Association.

While it sped up exams and raised fees, student absenteeism persists and is very high.

“If the college or university is around 40-50 km away from a student’s house, traveling every day and spending Rs 100 one way is not possible. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India with the lowest average income. How can the government think of students coming to classrooms if proper facilities and infrastructure are not built?” asked Kunal Kishore, a recent PhD graduate from Magadh University in Bodh Gaya.

Students ask that the new government make teacher recruitment regular and build public colleges in each block or guarantee availability of transport facilities. The Nitish Kumar government promised to build colleges this year, in his last budget before the Bihar election 2025. Polling in the Bihar assembly elections will be held in two phases – on November 6 and 11 – with counting and results on November 14.

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NEP 2020: What the Governor ordered

The Governor’s order from May 2023, doesn’t mention the new education policy but includes its salient points – the four-year programme, option to exit early, emphasis on online education and semester and credit systems.

It sets out an admission policy along with an entrance test pattern for the yet-unintroduced Common Admission Entrance Test (CAET); semester-wise fee structure for each programme; course structures and credit distribution patterns; question paper pattern; promotion criteria and an academic calendar setting out exact dates for exams and results till June, 2024. "The one week variation in dates in Academic Calendar is allowed depending upon prevailing situation of the concerned university," says the document.

Sharma said Munger University cited this order to explain its turbo-charged master’s programme with exams every few months.

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But universities went off the rails after the very first year and according to a teacher at a Muzaffarpur college, all undergraduate programmes are now behind schedule by six months. Ideally, Kumari’s batch should be in the fifth semester now and preparing to start their sixth from January. But all Bihar universities are “running late”. “ Neither teachers nor students are ready for NEP . Everything is happening on paper. Next semester examinations are being conducted without declaring previous semester’s results,” said the teacher.

Bihar Universities: Exams without results

Sanjeet Singh, 20 and in second-year of BA Political Science at Dr Arvind Kumar Degree College in Jamui district, affiliated to Munger University, is facing the same issue as Kumari. He wrote his third semester exams in March-April and before the results were declared, wrote the fourth-semester ones in September. Neither result is out.

“On the ground things have deteriorated further after 2023,” said a teacher from a women’s college in Muzzafarpur asking not to be named.

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Opinion is divided on which type of delay was better. In the annual system, a three-year programme could take six years to complete. Now, as Singh says, there are three examinations in a year, whose results are still delayed by two to three months.

However, Sharma prefers the new system. “In earlier times the degrees took two years extra to complete. At least that issue is sorted. However, in our university the corruption has increased to a level where agencies are now given extra money by the administration to announce the results quickly, leading to numerous mistakes in results and still delays,” he added. Sharma’s third semester result is delayed by two months.

Quick but flawed

Professors have a different take. Nilambuj Saroj, assistant professor at Veer Kunwar Singh University (VKSU), a public university in Ara, Bihar, said that NEP is “New Corruption Policy” in Bihar. The teachers in colleges and universities are bombarded with quicker examinations and results, leading to several private agencies getting involved, causing more problems.

For quicker examination and results checking for teachers, Munger University introduced barcode scanning. But according to PhD student Vicky Anand, students and teachers weren’t informed about the process which later led to more chaos. Rather than solving the issue, the tech intervention delayed the results by four months.

Increase in the number of exams has burdened teachers, leaving them no time to teach.

“There is no time left to take classes or to study with the students now,” said the teacher from Muzaffarpur. There’s no time to even check exam answer scripts thoroughly. “Most of the students won't pass if their examination copies are checked properly. But now almost all students have passed because if they fail, they won't continue, leading to higher dropout rates, which no college or university wants to show on paper.”

Teacher shortage is still chronic with just one or two handling entire departments with hundreds of students. “With NEP, major and minor specialisations were introduced but no college has designated teachers for these extra courses,” said Saroj.

Even results of teacher recruitment exams are delayed; teachers were last hired in 2023.

High fees, low attendance

A major challenge for students is the rise in fees. Singh said, “Earlier a three-year degree would cost around Rs 7,000 overall but now each semester examination fees costs Rs 4,5000 making [the total] Rs 35,000- Rs 40,000 for four years.”

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“How will students from low-income groups pay such high fees and in many Bihar districts students hail from low-income families,” said the Muzaffarpur teacher.

The problem that afflicted higher education before NEP still persists – empty classrooms. Student absenteeism is high. Singh’s undergraduate political science class has around 200 students enrolled but only 30-40 attend and not every day. “Colleges are taking admissions but due to lack of proper classes or basic infrastructure like libraries, toilets, hygiene and other similar facilities, why would students come to college?” asked Singh. “Despite the rule of 75% attendance, no university follows this.”

The situation has left academics thinking that no political party has a vision for quality and equity in education; as one put it, “it’s not on anyone’s agenda”.

Kishore said the government needs to focus more closely on higher education. “This includes providing transport systems and regular recruitment of teachers,” he said.

This is the third story in a series on education reforms in Bihar. The first two explored the radical changes in teacher recruitment and working conditions.