Some parents on Sunday complained of malpractice in the admission test to Sainik Schools at a private school in Belagavi. They said that the authorities of Jain Heritage School leaked question paper to some select parents and made an exclusive seating arrangement for some children to allow them to copy.
They also said that the school authorities allowed Shashidhar Kurer, senior KAS officer, inside the school premises after the examination began, despite knowing that his daughter was writing the test.
Vishwanath Patil, a parent, said that Mr. Kurer went inside after all other parents were sent out. “We also saw four students coming out of the examination hall, carrying question papers. This is in clear violation of the law,’’ he said.
But some parents stopped Mr. Kurer, who was on his way out of the centre, after a few minutes. He evaded questions and denied any wrong doing. The KAS officer defended his stand saying that he had gone there to check on his daughter who was suspected to have COVID-19 symptoms as her friends had them. Basavaraj S., another parent, said that the school allowed malpractice as it gave special treatment for children of government officials by seating them separately and leaking question paper.
This altercation led to some confusion in the school. Some parents called journalists while others called the police.
Meanwhile, the school authorities called four students back to the school, the parents said.
Police officers from the Udyambag Police Station, who rushed to the spot, called Block Education Officer Ravi Bhajantri to the venue.
Mr. Kurer, who is Administrative Officer, CADA and father of the candidate, denied the allegations. “I was allowed inside the school campus as I am a government officer on duty. I went there only to check if my daughter was alright. As a parent, I was slightly worried about her health as some of her classmates in KLE School had COVID-19-like symptoms a day before. But some parents misunderstood this. When they started making baseless allegations, I took my daughter away from the examination centre as I did not want to create any controversy,” Mr. Kurer said.
However, Mr. Ravi Bhajantri said that two aspirants, including the daughter of Mr. Kurer, were disqualified. He also said that an inquiry will be ordered into the allegations.
Principal Manjit Jain denied the allegations. He said that two students were called to his chamber just to test their temperature, after someone complained that they had come from KLE School where some students had had COVID-19-like symptoms. When their temperature was found to be normal, they were sent back to the examination hall. No separate seating arrangements were made. Nor was any question paper leaked, he said.
Deepak Mokashi, who handles the school’s public relations, said that there was some misunderstanding about the incident among some parents initially, but the examination was held as scheduled. “We will issue a detailed press release explaining all the facts,” he said.
An email sent to the Defence Secretary, who is an ex-officio member of the Sainik School Society Board of Governors, is yet to evoke any response.
