22 UP Teachers Sacked for Taking Up Jobs with Fake Documents

FIRs to be filed, recovery of salary ordered by education department

In a drive against phony recruitment, the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Department on Wednesday sacked 22 teachers for using fake documents to attain government posts. The move comes after an in-house probe revealed the extent of the forgery.

Based on an order released by Secondary Education Director Mahendra Dev, the sacked teachers were firstly appointed by virtue of an advertisement published for assistant teacher posts in government secondary schools of Azamgarh division.

The hiring process was merit-based, depending on the candidates' high school, intermediate, graduation, and teacher training certificates. But after handling numerous complaints, the department launched a document verification drive. The investigation uncovered that all 22 teachers had presented fake educational documents in order to get their jobs.

"These teachers had been posted in various districts over the years, but their appointment was illegal from the beginning," the order read.

In accordance with the results, the department has directed the concerned District Inspectors of Schools (DIOS) to not only begin the recovery of the salaries withdrawn by such teachers but also register First Information Reports (FIRs) against them under suitable provisions of law.

The episode has added new questions about the integrity of recruitment within the education system of the state and the susceptibility of merit-based selection processes to manipulation. Sources within the department reported that additional verification is in progress to inspect for similar deception in other wings.

The state government has come under pressure to enhance background verification in recruitments for teachers, particularly following similar instances in other districts in the last year.

The move is a warning to people against fraudulently producing documents, officials say, and indicates the department's desire to purify the education system of corruption and malpractice.