A 12-year-old schoolboy of Class V, who fled his home after failing his annual exam on March 31, has not returned, prompting his anxious parents to approach police on Monday in Adityapur where they reside.

Prem Kumar got his report card from his class teacher at St Mary's Hindi High School in Bistupur, Jamshedpur, and apparently went to his Adityapur home alone. There, he told his grandmother that he was stepping out "for a minute", but did not return.

The boy's father, civil contractor Amarjeet Dev said he and his wife Pinki had gone to the school to collect the report cards of both their sons Prem and Drona on the morning of March 31.

"I stood on the school premises while my wife and younger son Drona stood in his Class II queue for his report card and Prem stood in the Class V line. When Prem's turn came, his class teacher Lynda A. Afle gave him his report card that declared he had failed," the father said. "After getting Drona's results, my wife came with him to where I was standing but there was no sign of Prem. When we returned home at 10am, my mother said Prem had come, changed his uniform and left, telling her he would be back soon. We searched everywhere since then, including at relatives' homes in Jharkhand and Bihar, but there is no sign of him," said the worried father.

Adityapur thana OC Vijay Singh said that even though it was a missing complaint, they had to register an abduction case as the person concerned is a minor.

"We circulated details about the boy to police stations across Jharkhand and also neighbouring Bihar, Bengal and Odisha," OC Singh said.

Dev said class teacher Lynda should have been more considerate. "Instead of handing over the report card to a student who failed, she could have given it to us, his parents, who were present there. Had she acted sensibly, my son would not have taken this drastic step," he said.

Lynda confirmed she had given the report card to Prem.

"We do hand over report cards to students directly. There were other kids in the queue. There is no rule that report cards will be given in presence of parents only. I had no idea the boy would flee after failing in the exam," said the class teacher who also teaches English.

Should schools counsel junior students to face exam results?
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