Key Takeaways:
- Ministry forms a five-member committee to investigate suspected fake student records
- Nearly 200,000 questionable entries identified in the IEMIS database
- Suspected irregularities may affect grants for meals, scholarships, textbooks and uniforms
- Committee to conduct field verification and report within 15 days
- Officials involved in falsifying records could face legal action
The Ministry of Education and Sports has formed a five-member investigation committee after identifying suspected fake and duplicate entries involving nearly 200,000 students in the Integrated Educational Management Information System (IEMIS), raising concerns over the possible misuse of government grants allocated to community schools.
Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel said the discrepancies were detected during ministry monitoring of school records and could be linked to funding distributed under programmes such as midday meals, scholarships, textbooks, uniforms and per-capita grants.
According to the minister, some community schools were found to have retained duplicate or fictitious student records in the IEMIS database that did not correspond with actual classroom attendance, potentially inflating enrolment figures used for grant allocation.
The ministry had issued a circular on September 18 directing all community schools to remove fake and duplicate records by the end of the month. However, officials said the instruction was not fully implemented despite repeated reminders.
Following a ministerial decision on November 5, a five-member committee led by Joint Secretary Shiv Kumar Sapkota was formed to investigate the issue. The panel has been tasked with examining suspicious entries in the IEMIS database, conducting field verification at schools and submitting a report with findings and recommendations within 15 days.
Pokharel said legal action would be taken against anyone found responsible for entering false information or facilitating the misuse of public funds, including school principals, IEMIS focal persons and other officials involved in maintaining records.
He also warned that further investigation and legal proceedings would follow if the probe uncovers evidence of organised financial irregularities or corruption involving fabricated student data.