Two Dahod schools leaked papers for three years

AHMEDABAD: The unusually good results of two schools — Sarvoday High School at Munkhosla and HM Prajapati High School at Dhavadiya in Dahod district — year after year, compared to the average school perfomance, prompted Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) to launch an inquiry. The schools had passing percentages of 86%, 67% and 88% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, for the class X board exams.
The report of the inquiry was recently submitted to GSHSEB, which states that the schools, run by the same administration, were involved in deliberate paper leaks. Analyses of computers and mobile phones by the forensic science laboratory (FSL) provided evidence of the leak for three consecutive years, from 2016 to 2018. The investigation was conducted by R C Patel, the DEO of Surendranagar.
A J Shah, chairman of GSHSEB, said the evidence points to deliberate paper leaks. “The FSL report stated that all the papers were leaked by the schools. A criminal complaint has been filed with local police. A total of eight persons were apprehended and they have not got bail so far. For the first time, we even approached the Supreme Court to make sure they don’t get a reprieve,” he said.
Shah added that this year, they changed the rules so that persons found to be involved in leaks are liable to be imprisoned for up to 5 years and a Rs 2 lakh fine.
This is the first time that board officials accepted that there had been paper leaks, even as complaints about leaks were received from places like Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar in the last four years.
According to board officials, they received a complaint about the English paper for 2017 being leaked at schools run by this trust. It was believed that school employees opened seals ahead of time and scanned or photographed the question papers, which were used to boost the children’s performance. Due to their good results, the schools were popular with locals.
Officials added that two employees, Raman Prajapati and Kirti Patel, were named by the authorities as ‘dubious’ but they could not answer why the duo were assigned examination duty if they were untrustworthy. One the trustees’ son was the primary supervisor for the school at Munkhosla for this year’s examination.
Board officials said the trustees and school authorities have been asked to submit their reply to the board’s executive committee before a decision on barring the schools is taken.