Anamika Shukla, an unemployed woman from Gonda who alleged that her educational certificates were forged to provide jobs to several “fake” teachers in Kasturba Gandhi Balika schools across Uttar Pradesh, has finally landed a job in a private school in her home district.
The “original” Ms. Shukla was recruited as an assistant teacher in the primary section of the Bhaiya Chandrabhan Dutt Smarak Vidyalaya.
While offering her the appointment letter, school manager Digvijay Pandey said the school committee had passed a resolution to employ Ms. Shukla as it had an excess of students.
Ms. Shukla said the school had considered her “talent” while employing her. “Bahut acha lag raha hai (I am feeling really good),” Ms. Shukla told reporters after accepting the appointment.
The teacher recruitment scam which has roiled the State for the past few weeks, took a new turn last week, when Ms. Shukla submitted her documents at the office of the Basic Education Officer in Gonda, stating that she never worked as a teacher despite applying in five districts since 2017. On her complaint, the Gonda police have now lodged an FIR against persons accused of impersonating her to get employed as teachers.
Lucrative deal
Meanwhile, in Mainpuri, police from Ambedkar Nagar arrested a woman Anita Devi on charges of getting appointed as as a teacher using forged documents of Anamika Shukla. Ms. Anita Devi had been teaching at a Kasturba Gandhi Balika school in Ramnagar for a year using fake certificates, said Ambedkar Nagar SP Alok Priyadarshi.
As per “the deal” between Ms. Anita Devi and Pushpendra, a man who allegedly prepared her fake papers, she would receive ₹10,000 in cash while he would keep the rest of the monthly salary of ₹22,000, that was deposited in an account in her name, said the officer.
The Kasganj police on Thursday nabbed Jaswant Singh, Pushpendra's brother, who allegedly arranged jobs on fake certificates for several women. Jaswant Singh was arrested based on information from one Supriya, the first woman to be arrested on charges of forging documents of Anamika Shukla.
SP Kasganj G. S. Chandrabhan said Jaswant Singh, a college dropout, was himself working as a regular teacher in a school in Kannuaj, having been appointed on the basis of fake B.Sc, B.Ed. and NET certificates of one Vibhav Kumar. With his brother Pushpendra, considered the main accused in the case, Jaswant Singh claimed they had provided jobs to 17 to 18 women under the name of Anamika Shukla, said Mr. Chandrabhan.
They first got a job for a woman under the fake name of Dipti Singh seven years ago, the officer added.
Wide spread
Last week, Minister of State for Basic Education Satish Dwivedi had revealed that the documents of ‘Anamika Shukla’ were found in the records of nine schools in U.P. — in Amethi, Ambedkar Nagar, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Prayagraj, Kasganj, Varanasi, Aligarh and Rae Bareli.
In six of the schools, teachers appointed on the basis of these documents received salaries of amounting to ₹12.24 lakh so far, the Minister said.
