As per a local news report, at least 24,000 newly-appointed teachers are suspected to have used fake education, caste or other certificates to get the job. Inquiries so far have revealed that at least 4,000 teachers have used fake educational degrees, marksheets and other certificates. The remaining teachers don’t fulfil the requirement of scoring a minimum 60% marks in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET).

It’s believed that a large number of aspirants from outside the state used fraudulent documents to get the job. Reports of teachers appointed with less than 60% CTET marks through fraudulent documents are coming in from most districts.

The Bihar education department has recruited 2.17 lakh teachers in November 2023 and January 2024 for its 85,000 schools. These teachers qualified the Teachers Recruitment Examination (TRE) 1 and 2, conducted by BPSC. An additional 87,000 teachers are to be appointed through TRE 3.

“We are examining the documents submitted by the recently appointed teachers. Around 20,000 of them do not possess the advertised recruitment criteria of a minimum 60% score in the CTET. Many of them have around 50% score, yet they applied and got selected in the recruitment examination and joined as teachers,” a news report quotes an unnamed education department official as saying.

A teacher, Kumari Chandani, had moved the Patna High Court seeking a 5% relaxation in CTET marks for women candidates. The HC directed the education department to make its stance clear on the matter. The teacher had earlier appealed to the primary education director claiming relaxation of 5% in the CTET marks requirement. Despite having less than 60% marks in CTET, she managed to secure the job and was posted at a government school in Arwal. It also came to light that she is from Uttar Pradesh.

“It is clearly laid down in the rules that only the inhabitants of the state would be eligible for benefits under the state reservation formula, not those applying from other states,” Pankaj Kumar, Director of Primary Education Department, said in a statement.

Sources claim Kumari Chandani is not the only teacher having secured a school teacher’s job through fraudulent documents. There are thousands of them and the education department has now decided to cull and remove them from their jobs. District education officials have been seeking clarification from suspect teachers.

The investigation now covers even contract teachers who were appointed by Panchayat and other urban local bodies between 2006 and 2015. Contract teachers who secured the jobs by using fake certificates are being identified during different counselling sessions such as for transfer and posting.

About 1.87 lakh teachers appointed by Panchayats and urban local bodies have cleared competency tests to be absorbed as full-fledged government employees. Results of competency tests for another batch of teachers are awaited. About 3.5 lakh contract teachers are employed by Bihar school education department. “Having evaded scrutiny for a long time, they are now being caught during counselling as all the documents need to be verified,” HT quotes an education department official saying.

A Patna HC bench ordered a probe and asked the state vigilance bureau to collect all the folders containing documents of teachers in three weeks. While a lot of folders have gone missing from the state education department’s possession, the investigation continues with hundreds of FIR lodges and a similar number of teachers removed from the job for using false documents. (IPA Service)