Bihar: 38 districts told to give details of 30,000 teachers

The Bihar government has admitted that it appointed nearly 1.3 lakh contract teachers without verifying their educational and professional degrees. The Human Resources Department has now asked all the 38 districts to submit within a month degrees of over 30,000 teachers for verification.

The state had ordered an internal inquiry after The Indian Express, in a two-part “Cheat & Teach” series last July, reported how up to 20,000 Bihar teachers had been appointed on the basis of forged degress. The state is planning to revise the salaries of over 4 lakh contract teachers. It has intensified the degree verification process to “screen out” teachers with forged degrees.

Speaking to The Indian Express, joint director, primary education, R S Singh said: “We have already dismissed over 10,000 teachers and have asked districts to send degree details of 30,000-odd teachers in a month. We need to verify degrees of 1.3 lakh teachers.” As per standard procedure, educational and professional degrees of a teacher should be verified before the disbursal of his or her first salary.

Singh added that a slew of complaints compelled the government to complete the verification process.

Source:: Indian Express