Rayagada: As many as 576 teachers posted in Rayagada district have come under scanner after the district education department launched verification of the teachers’ certificates, a report said Wednesday. The certificate verification exercise was taken up by the district education department after 12 fake teachers were dismissed from service in August after their certificates turned out to be fake. Such allegations have kicked up a row which is indicative of a crumbling education system in the district. Reports said that as many as 1,194 youths have received appointments as teachers by submitting certificates reportedly from Guwahati University, Bundelkhand University, Andhra University, Kashmir University, Ambedkar University, South India University, Himachal Pradesh University, and Gulbarga University. The dismissal of 12 teachers on ground of forged certificates has unnerved hundreds of such fake teachers working in the district.
Currently, the district education department has launched certificate verification of 1,194 contractual teachers who had received appointments in the district from 2011 to 2018. Certificates of 618 teachers of the lot were verified and their services regularised while the rest 576 teachers are under scanner. The certificates submitted by them during their appointments have been sent to their respective universities for verification. After receiving reports from the concerned universities, the district education authorities will dismiss the fake teachers who received appointments by submitting fake certificates. Sources said the district education department sacked 12 fake teachers after a probe wherein their certificates were found to be forged.
Among the sacked teachers, seven had submitted fake BEd certificates, one fake CT certificate, another fake Plus III certificate, and two other fake Plus II certificates while information about another sacked teacher could not be gathered. Before the advent of Covid pandemic, it was found many youths aspiring for government service had purchased forged certificates from various universities and received appointments as teachers by submitting those.
Despite many institutes providing BEd degree courses in the state, many of these youths were found to have purchased fake certificates from universities located outside the state and received employment as teachers using those. After learning about the fraud, the state Education department directed all district education departments to verify the certificates of teachers. When contacted, district project coordinator-cum-district education officer Purna Chandra Bariha said the teachers’ certificates have been sent for verification to the respective universities. After receiving the reports, action will be taken against the teachers who have received appointments on the basis of fake certificates, he added.