Panaji, May 22 (IANS): Over 12,000 Class 12 students have been left in a lurch after the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHE) withdrew their mark sheets, claiming there were "errors in some cases". A probe has been ordered.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has demanded the resignation of GBSHE officials as well as Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate over the goof-up, which it claimed has put the future of students in a "quandary".

"We are inquiring into the incident and no one would be spared. The education secretary will be heading the probe," Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate told reporters here.

"There was a computer software error, because of which the update of marks showed discrepancies, between the marks submitted and printed. Once we receive all the mark sheets, we will correct the errors and re-issue the results once again," GBSHE chairman Mervyn D'Souza told reporters.

More than 12,000 students in the arts, science and commerce streams got a rude shock after the GBSHE late Friday instructed all schools and students to return their original mark sheets back to the authority for correction.

"The entrance to medical courses is just days away. This has completely upset my son's mental state. He has to submit the mark sheet and we don't know when we will get the correct mark sheet now," said Raghuveer Naik, whose son Rajesh gave his Class 12 examination in the science stream.

State BJP president Laxmikant Parsenkar said that the "errors" were not computer generated but a result of the gross negligence on the part of the GBSHE, which functions as a semi-autonomous entity.

"The education minister must resign and the education department officers who were responsible for this mistake cannot be spared. (Education minister) Monserrate cannot play with the lives and future of children like this," Parsenkar said.