Malkangiri: A day after OMR (Optical mark recognition) sheets of the Mathematics paper of 108 students who had taken their matriculation examination were found missing from a government school in Malkangiri district, Padia police swung into action and detained five persons including the Headmaster of SSD High School Sunday evening, reports said.
Reportedly, the detainees are being interrogated by the cops. The goof-up comes in the wake of question papers of Matriculation mathematics, Odia (MIL) and Hindi going viral on social media raising serious doubts about the efficient conduct of the Board of Secondary examinations.
The matter came to light after the authorities of SSD High School lodged a complaint at Padia police station, police said. The complaint said the optical mark recognition sheets of nearly 108 students, who appeared for Mathematics examination Saturday, have gone missing from the school premises.
Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Jagmohan Meena said a team led by ASP UC Nayak has been sent to the school to conduct a thorough probe into the incident.
“Investigation is in progress to ascertain the circumstances in which the OMR sheets went missing,” he said.
The school authorities have also informed the district administration and the Board of Secondary Education, which conducts the annual matriculation examination about the incident.
Malkangiri sub-collector Rameswar Pradhan and other senior officials have reached the school for conducting further investigation into the matter.
The development comes a day after images of Mathematics question paper of the ongoing matriculation examination surfaced on social media Saturday, prompting the state government to suspend three teachers in Kalahandi district.
Earlier, the question papers of Odia, Hindi and English subjects went viral on social media, putting the BSE, Odisha, in a tight spot.
As per the BSE guidelines, all answer-sheets should be kept in sealed covers after the examinations and the sealed packets containing answer scripts should be deposited in a police station. However, police have started probing the incident Sunday.
The matriculation examinations began February 22 and would conclude March 8.
The BSE had earlier suspended 10 persons, including four examination centre superintendents for their alleged role in spreading images of questions on social media.
PNN