Jajpur: Teachers who have got jobs by furnishing forged BEd/CT certificates and fraudulently obtaining ST documents are being exposed due verification by the School and Mass Education department. Till date, 498 fake teachers have been caught in 25 districts in Odisha.
However, the number of ‘fake’ teachers could be higher than what has been stated so far. A serious allegation has come out that some ‘fake’ teachers who have been identified, have managed to strike off their names from the list by using the clout of political leaders.
It is an irony that these fake teachers have been enjoying all kinds of government facilities, putting a pressure on the state exchequer. On the other hand, scores of educated and trained youths are being deprived of teaching jobs.
Meanwhile, joint director of the Directorate of Elementary Education, Gourairani Nayak has directed the district education officers (DEO), the district project officers (DPO) and block education officers (BEO) of 25 districts to investigate reports about 498 fake teachers.
Besides, the collectors of 25 districts have been requested to initiate action against the fake teachers.
The DEE has also sought report about teachers who have managed to get their names struck off the list.
Notably, in the last five years, DEOs have been sent reminders for over 100 times to submit reports about fake teachers. Due to political pressure, the verification of documents has been deliberately delayed while documents of score of fake teachers have not been verified, it was alleged.
As per sources, 163 fake teachers were identified in Bolangir district; 96 in Ganjam; 54 in Bhadrak; 36 in Khurda; 15 in Sundargarh; 13 in Kalahandi; 12 each in Rayagada, Mayurbhanj, Koraput; 10 each in Jajpur and Gajapati; eight each in Jharsuguda and Malkangiri; seven each in Nayagarh, Kandhamal and Balasore; six in Nabarangpur; five in Dhenkanal; four each in Cuttack and Kendrapara; three in Puri and one each in Nuapada and Sambalpur.
In some cases, names of many teachers against whom locals had made allegations for using fake certificates have not been identified till date.
A case in point is Korei block in Jajpur district where over 50 teachers have been accused of doing service on forged certificates. However, the district has reported about only 10 fake teachers.