At least 29 answer sheets of students, who recently appeared in the Class 10 board examination, have been burnt by fire at the Government Senior Secondary School (girls), Jagraon.
Evaluation of the destroyed answer scripts had been complete.
The Punjab School Education Board has ordered an inquiry into the incident. Only after receiving the report from the inquiry officer will I be able to comment further," PSEB chairman, Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal, told HT.
The school served as an evaluation centre for the Hindi, Science and Punjabi B answer papers. Its principal Santosh Kumari said, "The papers were set on fire due to high voltage in the electricity wires on May 5. As soon as teachers and students saw the smoke coming out of the room, they used fire extinguishers and soused the flames… But even then 29 answer sheets were completely burnt."
She added that PSEB's assistant secretary Gurmukh Singh and nodal officer Ranjit Singh Mali were informed of the incident and accordingly a complaint registered at Jagraon police station.
However, the district education officer, secondary, Paramjit Kaur Chahal, denied that the papers were gutted and insisted only partial damage had been caused.
{{/usCountry}}However, the district education officer, secondary, Paramjit Kaur Chahal, denied that the papers were gutted and insisted only partial damage had been caused.
{{/usCountry}}"If any student applies for re-evaluation, there will be no problem as the answer sheets are damaged but not totally," she said.
Of the total answer sheets burnt, nine were of Hindi, 18 of Science and 2 of Punjabi B.