Panaji: The Goa government on Monday began probing the goof-up this year in around 12,000 Class XII marks-sheets, a senior official said.

State Education Secretary V.P. Rao will record statements of officials of the Goa Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) over the mistakes made in nearly 12,000 marks-sheets.

"We will get to the bottom of this. Those guilty will not be spared," the senior official said.

More than 12,000 marks-sheets were withdrawn by the GBSHSE last week after errors were found in tabulation of internal assessment marks.

The board has put the blame on "computer error", while various schools managements across the state, which first highlighted the mistakes, claimed that the errors were manual and that board officials were to be blamed.

A. Rebelo, principal of Fr. Agnel Ashram Higher Secondary School in Verna, 25 km from Panaji, said that "without a doubt, the board officials have made serious mistakes while converting marks from internal assessment, which had 20 percent weightage".

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Laxmikant Parsenkar demanded the resignation of Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate over the marks-sheet controversy.

"The education minister must resign and the education department officers responsible for the mistake must not be spared. Monserrate cannot play with the future of children like this," Parsenkar said. IANS