Kochi: The General Education Department has constituted a three-member panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the disruption of the closing ceremony of the Kerala school plays. The decision to form the panel was taken at a meeting held by General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Wednesday.

MI Meenambika, Additional Secretary General Education Department, Joint Secretary Biju Kumar BT and SCERT Director Jayaprakash RK are the members of the panel. It was also decided to seek clarification from the officials of Ernakulam and Navamukunda HSS, Thirunavaya, Mar Basil HSS Kothamangalam in Malappuram.

The report will be available within two weeks. At the meeting, a step was also taken to establish an expert committee that will work on the criteria for determining the best school. If necessary, the guidance will be revised in line with the committee’s recommendations, according to a press note issued by the Minister’s Office.

After the results were announced in the Best School category, there were tense scenes at the closing ceremony. Organizers gave the second place to GV Raja Sports School, leading to noisy protests from students of Mar Basil HSS Kothamangalam, Ernakulam and Navamukunda HSS, Thirunavaya, Malappuram.

In the official scoreboard on the website, Navamukunda HSS and Mar Basil HSS were placed second and third respectively. The trouble started when GV Raja sports school was declared second, Navamukunda HSS rose to third position and Mar Basil HSS went unrewarded. There were complaints about on-duty police officers allegedly beating protesting students and being beaten and kicked by police.