Names of 5 lakh ‘ghost’ school students struck off in Bihar

Already grappling with a suspected scam in the recruitment of thousands of teachers over the years whose files containing their educational records are yet to be traced, Bihar has another problem in its schools — ghost students.

According to an official aware of the matter, names of more than 5.4 lakh students have been struck off government schools in the state in the last few months after the education department began a drive to improve attendance and found them absent for long periods.

There is apprehension that a large number of them are enrolled elsewhere or studying in private schools, the official said, adding the department would also undertake door-to-door survey with electoral rolls to identify the families whose wards are not attending schools.

The “weeding out” was done on the directions of additional chief secretary (education) KK Pathak, who has been visiting schools across the state and sending teams.

“He (Pathak) has been particular about attendance of students and directed removal of names from the registers if they did not report consistently for more than three days without any valid reason and remained unresponsive for a fortnight despite reminder. That order is being followed. If at any later stage the students report to schools, they or their parents will have to give an affidavit that they will be regular after readmission. Some may have got enrolled in government schools just to avail direct benefit transfer (DBT) and could be studying elsewhere,” said department’s public relations officer Amit Kumar.

The phenomenon isn’t new in Bihar. In 2011-12, rampant fake enrolments in schools had surfaced during the implementation of the health guarantee scheme for all students and later “operation register clean” had pointed to an astronomical number of missing students, almost 20 lakh. The problem, though, remained unresolved.

The reasons for inflated admissions were attributed to the massive exercise of bringing all out-of-school children to schools since 2006 through the government’s ‘Sankalp’ programme, in which the schools fudged admissions in connivance with local officials to improve their record.

A senior official of the department said the current drive could unravel the real enrolment figures and also save the exchequer a lot of money otherwise going to undeserving and fake students through DBT.

“The government gives a lot of incentives for improving education, but it cannot be allowed to become a source of scam. It is public money and meant for improvement in schools helping the needy. The drive will separate the wheat from the chaff. The role of field officials like the block extension officer (BEO), district education officers (DEO) and the district programme officers (DEOs) will also come under scanner,” the official added.

The official said that student enrolment in schools was the yardstick on which the entire educational planning in the state was done — be it the requirement of teachers, schools, classrooms or distribution of funds for midday meal (MDM), bicycles, books, dress etc. “If the figures are wrong, it would be difficult to achieve the desired objective.”

“The focus is on improving attendance, but despite improvement over the last three months, the desired outcome is not reflecting. Hence our apprehension that same students are enrolled in two or more schools or are studying elsewhere,” he said.

Curious case of missing files

Earlier, the state had to grapple with missing folders containing documents relating to educational qualifications of teachers and despite the Patna High Court order in 2015 for vigilance probe into alleged large-scale appointments on fake certificates, it remains incomplete. According to a senior official in the vigilance, 72,168 folders still remain missing. The bureau has so far lodged 1,352 FIRs, making 2,557 teachers accused in the cases.

The case involves teachers appointed between 2006 and 2015 through Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies. With the possibility of finding the folders dimming due to change of guard in the PanchayatI Raj institutions three times after 2006 and the HC expressing displeasure over slow progress in probe, the education department last year put the onus of uploading their documents on the working teachers, whose folders are missing, afresh on the specified portal, but despite lapse of several deadlines, the process could not be completed.

“If the documents are not uploaded, it will be assumed that they have nothing to say regarding the validity of their appointment and considering it prima facile irregular/illegal, the process will be initiated for their removal and recovery of salary paid through the recruiting agencies,” said a letter from director, primary education, to all the district education officers (DEOs) last year.

A total of 3.52 lakh teachers were appointed in Bihar, between 2006 and May 2015. Of them, 3.11 lakh were elementary teachers, including 1.04 lakh Shiksha Mitras appointed for ₹1500/month honorarium during the RJD regime and later elevated to the rank of Panchayat teachers. Maximum cases of forgery were suspected to be in the ranks of elementary teachers and a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed the HC against it.

On May 18, 2015, the HC, while ordering vigilance probe, had observed: “The extent to which the candidates with fake certificates have been appointed as teachers in the past decade is a matter of deep concern…The state government has soft-pedalled the issue for the past one decade…We direct the director general, vigilance, to immediately swing into action and verify the genuineness of certificates of the teachers who have been appointed since 2006.”

The HC had directed that within three weeks from the date of order, the department of Vigilance shall collect all such folders in every district, which the education department is willing to hand over, besides two-month time for collection of merit list. “Though a prayer was made for entrusting the matter to the CBI, we are not inclined to accept the same, for the present. However, we direct the Director General, Vigilance Cell, to immediately swing into action and cause verification of the genuineness of the certificates of the teachers who have been appointed from 2006 onwards till date,” it had observed.