Surat girl who was marked 'failed' in exams over seating error gets actual results, feted by Gujarat minister

The error of sitting in the wrong seat during board exams caused a Class 10 student residing in Gujarat’s Chhota Udepur to be declared as “failed”. This incident caused a great deal of stress for her and her family.

After the matter was investigated by the authorities as per the request of the student’s father, it was discovered that Akiksha Parmar, the girl who was declared “failed”, arrived late for the exam and sat on the bench designated for another student who did not appear for the exams at all. She also entered the same seat number on her answer sheet, which led to the mix-up, according to the officials.

May 15 brought some relief to the girl and her family as state education minister, Praful Pansheriya, handed her her actual result and congratulated her. As per her new result, she scored 53.54 per cent and passed.

Akiksha Parmar was a student of Class 10 of S B High School of Naswadi, in Chhota Udepur district, had also applied at Adarsh Residential School, in the same town, for her board exams. But when the GSEB declared the Class 10 results on May 8, she was in shock to see the online marksheet showing that she was "absent" and had "failed".

Parmar took the matter further by reporting it to the Chhota Udepur DEO. After a thorough investigation, it was found that on the first day of the exams, Akiksha was a little late and had sat on the bench allotted to a student who was absent for all of the exams. Without realising it, she also wrote that student's seat number on her answer sheet. This mistake continued into all further exams whereby she would still sit in the wrong seat and write the wrong seat number on every answer sheet as well, according to DEO Anand Parmar.

On the date of result announcement, the student who was supposed to be occupying the seat Akiksha had taken by mistake was marked as passed, while Akiksha was noted "absent" and "failed".

On this route, the District Education Office officials, along with representatives from Adarsh Residential School, proceeded to Gandhinagar on Monday, with relevant documents and CCTV footage in an attempt to put the case before the board. The DEO also issued notices to six exam supervisors.

State Education Minister Pansheriya began looking into the matter on Tuesday. By Wednesday, DEO Anand Parmar, accompanied by staff from both schools and Akiksha herself, went to the education minister's office.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Education Minister Pansheriya said, "We came across the issue and rectified the mistake made by the student. We have handed her the actual online passed marksheet copy today. The six supervisors and block incharge had been given notice. We will ensure that such mistakes don’t occur in future."

DEO Parmar added, "We have given notices to the supervisors and block in charge and are waiting for their reply after which further action will be taken."

Meanwhile, Akiksha is feeling thankful, relieved, and immensely happy.

In a statement, she said “On the day of the result announcement, I was sure that I would pass the board exams… Today, I am happy that I have received a pass result. It was my mistake to sit on another student’s bench and put his seat number on my answer sheet… I am very happy to have received a passing result from the state education minister, who is a great person. He felicitated me in front of everyone.”