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A high school principal in east India was jailed after authorities discovered his involvement in a shady deal which saw 43,000 exam scripts sold to a scrap dealer for INR8,500 ($169).
Two other people connected to the incident have also been jailed and investigations are ongoing. However, the bulk of the missing answer sheets have still yet to be recovered.
During the investigation, another 5,682 exam scripts have also been found missing from another high school.
The mysterious case of the missing 43,000 scripts was found out after the district’s school examination board (BSEB) requested the answer sheets to review their marking before the results were announced.
After sending a special messenger to pick up the papers, officials were surprised to find out that the answer sheets of several top students were missing and launched a massive search operation.
“The missing answer sheets are a part of the conspiracy to defame the BSEB. We have ordered a thorough probe into the entire episode,” BSEB chairman Anand Kishore told Gulf News.
The school board’s request to check the scripts was put in to prevent a repeat of past fraudulent incidents of “fake” top students.
In 2017, a grade 12 “top student” was found to be a 42-year-old who sat for the exam instead of the real candidate. A similar case occurred in 2016, where another grade 12 top student had no idea what subjects was taught in the classrooms.
To add to the mysterious scandal, it was found that 5,682 exam scripts were missing from another high school after a written tip-off from a local villager.
“During inquiry, we came to know that all these copies were sold to the scrap dealers since they were rotting. However, the school administration didn’t obtain permission from the education department authorities before their disposal,” said district education officer Akhilesh Prasad.
The authorities have ordered the raids of various scrap shops in the district to recover the missing answer sheets.
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