Education scam
SHILLONG: The Directorate of School Education and Literacy on Friday issued termination letters to as many as 246 teachers who were appointed ‘illegally’ when the present Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh was the Education Minister.
However, only 25 candidates will be appointed in the vacancies arising out of the termination of 246 teachers.
An official source said on Friday that the fresh appointments are for those had already filed their petitions in the Court.
“We found that there were 25 eligible candidates for appointments who had filed the petitions in the High Court,” the official said.
The scam in the teachers’ recruitment had come to light only after aggrieved candidates field an RTI application regarding the appointment of teachers made in 2009-10 through unfair means.
Later, after the candidates approached the High Court for legal redress, a CBI inquiry was ordered.
The CBI probe revealed large-scale irregularities in the appointment of teachers and the direct role played by the then Education Minister (Ampareen), some legislators and officials in the Education department, who had recommended the names of their preferable candidates for appointment as teachers, by tampering with the score sheets of the eligible candidates.
Though the Government wanted to delay the matter, an order by the High Court of Meghalaya prompted the Education department to form a High Level Scrutiny Committee which segregated the ‘tainted’ and ‘non-tainted teachers’.
The official source said that it was based on the High Level Committee report that the Education department has decided to terminate the services of 246 teachers and to appoint 25 new candidates.
The decision of the Government to terminate the teachers without taking any action against the concerned Minister and others indicted by the CBI had sparked widespread criticism, including demands from opposition who sought for Ampareen’s ouster.
Recently, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, Dr. Donkupar Roy stated that Ampareen Lyngdoh should have stepped down long time ago since she was the one who had cleared the files related to the appointment of teachers.
