52 teacher aspirants under scanner for malpractice

At least 52 aspiring teachers vying for jobs at government schools are facing an inquiry for alleged malpractices in the recruitment exam that was held recently.

The Department of Public Instruction has withheld results of these candidates and notices have been served to them.

These candidates wrote the Common Entrance Test (CET) that was held in May for the recruitment of 15,000 teachers in government schools. The results were announced recently. Of the 1.16 lakh candidates who applied, 52,342 were eligible for recruitment.

Authorities discovered unauthorised use of whiteners and change in handwriting. "Differences in handwriting, change of ink and use of whitener were caught during scanning of the OMR sheets before they were sent for evaluation," a senior official said.

Authorities were also shocked to find that the desperate aspirants had written job requests on the answer scripts. "Some candidates wrote request notes on the answer sheets, urging evaluators to pass them so that they can get a government job," the official said. "This was identified at the time of evaluation."

Some candidates have replied to the notices issued by the department. "If the reason or explanation given by the candidate seems genuine, then we will call them in for inquiry. For example, in case of handwriting, we will make them write the exam," the official said.

The department collected CCTV footage from all the exam centres where these 52 candidates wrote the CET. If they are found guilty, then they will be permanently disqualified.