In a major embarrassment for the Higher Education Department, the principal and a professor of a government college in Madhya Pradesh’s Narmadapuram district have been suspended following a viral video allegedly showing a peon checking students’ answer sheets.
The incident took place at Bhagat Singh Government College in Pipariya. The suspension orders were issued on April 4, after the matter was brought to light by students who approached local MLA Thakurdas Nagvanshi with their concerns. The MLA subsequently lodged a formal complaint with education authorities.
According to sources, the video—believed to have been recorded in January—surfaced on social media, sparking outrage among students and raising serious questions about the integrity of the examination evaluation process.
Principal Rakesh Verma and Professor Ramgulam Patel were named in the suspension order. Verma, however, claimed he has been wrongly implicated. He stated that the evaluation responsibility had been assigned to a guest lecturer, who in turn handed over the answer sheets to a peon with the help of a book lifter working at the college.
Verma also pointed out that Professor Patel had been appointed as the nodal officer for evaluation duties by Raja Shankar Shah University, Chhindwara, under whose jurisdiction the college falls. He shared a letter issued by the university last August to support his claim.
“I have written to the Higher Education Department, requesting them to reconsider my suspension as I had no direct role in the incident,” Verma said.
Despite the suspension, many are questioning how such a serious lapse in academic protocol could occur without oversight. The Higher Education Department has yet to issue a formal statement on the matter.
The incident has sparked widespread criticism from education circles and is expected to prompt a deeper review of how answer sheet evaluations are monitored across government colleges in the state.
