Phulbari, May 12: Following an FIR filed against one Saddam Hussain from the plain belt, by two aspiring teachers, over Hussain’s submission of fake documents to obtain a job during the recent recruitment drive for teaching posts in the state, a second police complaint as well as a complaint to the Education department, has now been filed against another teacher, again for submitting forged documents by the same teaching aspirants, Istiak Alom and Abdus Salim Biswas.
The complaint against the teacher, identified as Haider Hussain Mollah, a resident of Jugirjhar under Tikrikilla PS, comes in the wake of questions being raised on the validity of most documents provided by teachers that have been appointed, at least under the Dadenggre sub-division under West Garo Hills.
Interestingly, despite questions being raised on the validity of documents provided by D.El.Ed passed candidates, no attempt has been yet made by the education department in investigating whether the documents are fake or genuine.
In the instant case against Mollah, RTIs had been filed by Alom and Biswas with the Rayalseema University. Mollah had apparently passed his D.El.Ed from under the University in the year 2022 and even provided a hall ticket to prove the genuineness of his degree. However what he completely seems to have missed out on is that the University in question does not provide the course either in its constituent or affiliated colleges as per the RTI obtained.
“He showed a regular D.El.Ed certificate from Rayalseema University in Kurnool, AP but when we received the RTI report from the VC, they clearly mentioned that they do not offer the course. This only proves that the certificate obtained is fake. He has been appointed as an assistant teacher of the Phulbari LP School through this certificate,” stated Biswas.
Like Saddam Hussain, Mollah was amongst 34 candidates appointed as teachers in the Un-Reserved category in Dadenggre sub-division, most of who, as per reports could be facing similar cases against them in the time to come.
When contacted on the matter, the director of education, Swapnil Tembe stated that appointments followed the roster system and vacancies with the nodal officers (SDSEOs) being responsible for scrutiny of documents.
The complainants have sought an immediate investigation into the issue as well as appropriate legal action against the teacher for obtaining a job using a fake degree.
Informing further on the development of the case against Saddam Hussain, Alom stated the matter was now with the SP of West Garo Hills who was looking into the development of the case.
Alom and Biswas have sought legal action against the appointed teachers and have promised to take the matter to the Supreme Court if required.
Startlingly he added that of all 34 newly appointed teachers, only 2-3 of them were genuine.
“Of the 34 teachers that have been appointed, 17 of them have provided D.El.Ed degrees of 18 months duration under NIOS, which already disqualifies them as per the latest judgment of the Supreme Court on the issue. We have sought information on their degrees as well to verify if they actually completed their D.EL.Ed degrees or are fake. We will disclose more soon,” he added.
The SC had recently set out an order where it disqualified teachers with degrees of 18 months duration under NIOS for being appointed to teaching roles.
The state education department however is yet to take out a notification on the same order for teaching aspirants of the state.
Istiak also pointed to one appointed teacher who not only did not qualify the exam but was still provided a job under the Persons With Disabilities (PWD) category when there was only one position (that was already filled by a deserving candidate).
“She falls under the unreserved category and when there was only one post for the UR category for PWD how did she get the job despite not qualifying for the post,” he asked.
The teacher in question secured 83 marks as per the RTI which was below the 90 required for UR PWDs
Of the remaining 12 teachers that have been appointed, all have passed their degrees from the state of Assam through the Open Distance Learning (ODL) method under the state’s State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and this is where everything is wrong.
As per the criteria stated on the Assam state’s SCERT website, ODL is only available for residents of Assam who are already in-service teachers in schools. However the 12 newly appointed teachers, despite being permanent residents of the state of Meghalaya, were still able to obtain D.El.Ed certificates from the state and produce these to secure jobs in Meghalaya.
What is to note further is that following the ruling by the SC, the Assam government immediately put a stop to appointments through diplomas of 18 months D.El.Ed, the state of Meghalaya has not made any such move despite the ruling coming 2 days prior to the cut-off date for the submission of applications.
The SC had ruled that going forward teacher appointments were to be made as per the norms of the NCTE 2010 and 2011.
While the cut-off date for application was Nov 30, 2023, the SC ruling came out on Nov 28. However, the state till now, has not come out with a notification to rule out candidates with 18 month diploma holders under D.El.Ed.
