OMR sheets of 108 students missing from Odisha exam centre

OMR sheets of the Mathematics paper of 108 students who had appeared for matriculation examination were found missing from a government-run high school in Malkangiri district in Odisha on March 4. The matter came to light after the authorities of SSD High School at Padia lodged a complaint at Padia police station, police said.

The complaint said the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets of nearly 108 students, who appeared for Mathematics exam on Saturday, have gone missing from the school premises. Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Jagmohan Meenasaid a team led by ASP U C 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 (BSE), which conducts the annual matriculation examination in the state, about the incident, said an official. 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 on 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 and Odisha in a tight spot. The matriculation examinations began on February 22 and would conclude on March 8.The Board of Secondary Education had earlier suspended 10 persons, including four examination centre superintendents, for their alleged role in spreading images of questions on social media.