Former Haryana CM clears 10, 12 board exams at 87

-Dipta Joshi

Proving the adage – ‘age is no barrier to education’ right, former Haryana chief minister (1999-2005), Om Prakash Chautala cleared his class X and class XII board exams at the age of 87. The octogenarian wrote both the exams while serving a 10-year jail term after being indicted in the state’s Junior Basic Training (JBT) Teachers’ recruitment scam.

The founder of the Indian National Lok Dal party had appeared and passed his class XII exams in 2021. However, his mark sheet was withheld since he was yet to clear his class X English board paper.

Chautala has appeared for his class X exams in 2019 but could not write his English paper. He had finally appeared for his English paper in August ’21 scoring 88 marks in the 100-mark paper. The state education department handed over the class X and XII mark sheets to the veteran politician on Tuesday, May 10.

Om Prakash Chautala, the son of Chaudhary Devi Lal (former Haryana CM and Deputy Prime Minister of India) had dropped out of school to join politics. He served as Haryana’s chief minister from 1999-2005 besides holding the office for three brief terms.

In 2013, he and several others were indicted for illegally promoting 3,200 teachers during his term as chief minister and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The Supreme Court too upheld the conviction in 2015. Chautala was released from Tihar Jail in July ’21 on completion of his prison term.

The veteran leader’s tryst with education had inspired a recent Bollywood film, Dasvi. The film, released April 2022, dealt with a jailed politician appearing for class 10 exams. Actor Abhishek Bachchan who starred as the protagonist in Dasavi congratulated the leader on Twitter saying, “Badhai, #Dasavi”.