KATHMANDU, Nov 6: The Ministry of Education and Sports has launched an investigation after more than 200,000 student records were found duplicated in the Integrated Educational Management Information System (IEMIS) for school education, raising suspicions of possible corruption and misuse of state funds.
The ministry formed a five-member investigation and monitoring committee through a ministerial decision on Thursday to establish the facts and recommend action against those responsible.
The committee is coordinated by Shiva Kumar Sapkota, joint secretary at the ministry's Sports and School Education Division. Its members include Bhakta Bahadur Godar, director at the Department of Education; Binod Neupane, computer engineer at the ministry; and Nikita Dahal, a legal officer. Shiva Prasad Regmi, undersecretary at the School Education Section, is the member secretary.
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An informal assessment found that more than 200,000 student records had been duplicated in the IEMIS database.
The ministry suspects that the duplicate entries may have been used to misuse government allocations for school grants, scholarships, midday meals, uniforms, textbooks and other student services.
Education and Sports Minister Sasmit Pokharel said the ministry was treating the matter seriously and had initiated an investigation into possible financial irregularities.
"We are taking this matter seriously. It appears that funds are being misused through duplicate student records. A further investigation will be conducted and those responsible will face action," Pokharel said.
The committee will examine whether the large number of duplicate entries resulted from technical weaknesses in the system or deliberate manipulation.
It has also been tasked with identifying schools, administrators and individuals who may have submitted false information to obtain government funds. The committee will recommend the strictest possible action against those found responsible.
The ministry said the investigation aims to remove duplicate and fraudulent records and make the IEMIS database transparent, secure and based on accurate student information.
