J&K High Court asks govt to review certificates of teachers

All teachers appointed in the last 15 years to be screened

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state government to check the degree certificates of all the teachers appointed under Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) scheme in the last 15 years.

The direction came after Mohammad Imran Khan, a teacher, failed to script a composition on cow in an open court. The court subsequently directed the police to register a case against Khan, who is empanelled as a ReT teacher in a south Kashmir school due to his “high percentage” of marks.

However, the police are yet to register a case against the teacher. “We are yet to get the court’s direction,” a police officer said. The direction came after the Court was hearing a petition challenging the appointment of Khan, who has certificates issued by Board of Higher Secondary Education Delhi and Global Open University, Nagaland. Khan has an undergraduate degree from an unknown university.

The petitioner had alleged that Khan, who was appointed ReT teacher, had an unrecognised degree. Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, while hearing the petition, decided to conduct a mock test of Khan in the open court to check the authenticity of his degree, where he (Khan) failed.

The high court also ordered a screening test of all ReTs with degrees from study centres of universities from other states, which it called “tuck shops”.

“The writ petition at hand throws up most startling and classical example of sale and purchase of academic degrees, for which many tuck shops are operating in the state and responsible for relegating the student community into the dark cave of Plato.”

The court asked the director of School Education Department Kashmir to refer the matter to the concerned police for registration of case and initiate action against the owner of the study centre and the candidate and others like him.

The court also directed the commissioner secretary to the Education Department and director of School Education Department, Kashmir, to file a compliance report before the next date of hearing.

ReT teachers are appointed on a temporary basis for five years. After that, their services are regularised and their salary brought on a par with that of regular teachers. The scheme was introduced by the state government in 2000.