Kathmandu. The Ministry of Education and Sports has initiated an investigation after it was found that the details of many students were duplicated in the Integrated Educational Management Information System of School Education.

The Ministry has formed a committee through a ministerial-level decision to investigate the large number of details being duplicated in the system.

A 5-member study and monitoring committee has been formed through a ministerial decision on Thursday to study the facts and recommend necessary action against the guilty. The committee has been formed under the coordination of Shiva Kumar Sapkota, joint secretary of the Sports and School Education Division of the Ministry, while director of the Department of Education Bhakta Bahadur Godar, computer engineer Binod Neupane and law officer Nikita Dahal are members.

According to informal studies, the details of more than 2 lakh students have been duplicated in the e-MIS system. The Ministry of Education and Sports said that the Ministry of Education and Sports is investigating the misuse of grants, scholarships, mid-day meals, uniforms, textbooks and other facilities released from the state treasury on the basis of double entries seen in the system.

“We have looked into this matter seriously. It seems that the money is being misused by filling up duplicate details. Now further investigation will be done and action will be taken against the culprits,” said Minister Pokharel.

The committee formed will conduct a detailed study on the technical weakness or intentional misconduct of such a large number of details in the e-MIS system. The committee has been given a clear mandate to recommend to the ministry for maximum action against the school, administrator or responsible person who misuses the state funds by submitting wrong data.

The Ministry has said that this step has been taken to make e-MIS completely transparent, secure and based on real time data by removing duplicate and fake details in the system.