PATNA, Sept. 11 -- In an unusual move, the state education department has ordered students across 14 flood-hit districts in Bihar to appear for half-yearly exams starting September 15, and to bring their own mats and polythene sheets to sit on damp ground or in makeshift open-air spaces. With school desks submerged under floodwaters, grounds turned into stagnant rivers, and morning commutes reduced to perilous boat rides along tethered ropes, students must now sit for their tests amidst severe displacement. Swollen rivers including Punpun and the mighty Ganges submerged more than 4,000 government schools across districts like Patna, Saran, Vaishali, and Bhojpur, halting instruction for over three lakh pupils. A relentless September deluge has caused major river systems including the Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, and Punpun to surge past danger thresholds, impacting roughly 44 lakh people in 533 Gram Panchayats across 85 blocks. At Sultanganj in Bhagalpur, the Ganga touched a historic high of 36.80 metres, shattering its August 2021 record. The floods notwithstanding, Bihar Education Department has resolved to push forward with its academic timetable. Answer sheet distribution begins September 12, followed by half-yearly exams for Classes I to VIII on September 15, Class XII on September 18, and Classes IX and X on September 21. Because thousands of standard schoolrooms remain submerged beneath waist-deep currents, the administration has relocated exam centers to panchayat bhavans and temporary shelters, directing examinees to supply their own seating covers against muddy ground. School students argue that at least a third of the syllabus was yet to be covered, exacerbated by recent teacher shortages and administrative transfers. Parents contend that demanding children source dry mats while their homes are waterlogged borders on apathy. The directive has triggered fierce backlash among families battling displacement, hunger, and disease."This came as an utter surprise for us. When even the course syllabus is not completed by the teachers due to the floods, how can the department ask students to bring mats and polythene sheets from home for the exam?" asked Ramashish Prasad of Panapur in Danapur, whose son is enrolled in Class XII. Top officials of the education department, however, are tight-lipped over the unusual directive. " It was probably made verbally during a video conference of district education officers recently. But we have not issued any formal order. Even it has been done verbally, it should not have been done at the first place," said a senior education department official, seeking anonymity. In submerged pockets like Manas and Chandasi on Patna's fringes, where Ganga and Punpun has overrun homesteads, students like Jiya Agrawal note that lessons have been entirely suspended. Nonagenarian Gangmato Devi's great granddaughter studies in Class IX in a government school in Patlapur Panchayat of Danapur. She lamented that the family could barely savage stationary and uniforms but there was no mats to spare. The family was barely sustaining the season with polythene sheets provided by local administration. Sunny Kumar, a Class XII student from Paltapur, worked ahead knowing floods were an annual reality. While self-study helped him complete his syllabus, finding a mat remains a struggle. State authorities, however, defend the schedule. Bihar Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari stated that appropriate directives have been issued to flood-hit zones to prevent disruptions to academic calendars. Concurrently, Special Secretary Dharmendra Kumar on Wednesday instructed District Education Officers to furnish emergency assessments of infrastructural damage and deploy instructors directly into relief camps to teach displaced children. Authorities are further mandated by the state government immediately undertake necessary repair and reinforcement work if any damage, seepage, or vulnerability is detected....