The Gujarat government cancelled the annual primary school exam for two subjects for Class 7th on Friday after question papers were discovered stolen from a government school in the Bhavnagar district.
Two seventh-grade students admitted to stealing the papers on Wednesday night from their school, officials said, according to officials.
The annual exam of Science and Social Science, scheduled to be held in all state-run primary schools on Friday and Saturday, will now be conducted on April 29 and 30, they added.
The exam papers are prepared centrally by the Director of Primary Education and sent to the schools in sealed covers, said an official.
On Thursday morning, Devraj Dhadhla, principal of a primary school in Nesvad village in Talaja tehsil, realised on reaching the school that someone had broken in during the night and stolen question papers of Science and Social Science subjects.
After registering a First Information Report, Talaja police started investigation and found out that two students of Class 7th had stolen the papers after breaking the locks, said Assistant Superintendent of Police Safin Hasan.
The stolen papers were also recovered, he added.
Following that, the Director of Primary Education’s office informed District Primary Education Officers that the examination had been cancelled and that a new examination with new exam papers would be held on April 29 and 30.
It also stated that, in order to avoid such incidents, teachers should keep sealed exam papers at home rather than at school.