The Bihar Education Department has issued orders for the re-verification of nearly one lakh teachers recruited last month following complaints of potential impersonation by applicants. In a letter dated December 28, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Education Department, K K Pathak, directed all District Magistrates to commence the re-verification process from January 15. The anomalies are attributed to the Bihar Public Service Commission’s (BPSC) failure to share thumb impressions of candidates during counseling in November.

The department recently called 4,000 selected teachers for random re-verification after complaints of impersonation. During this process, three impostors were identified, and legal actions were initiated against them. Additionally, three teachers who had joined the service reportedly fled. The Bihar government had issued appointment letters to 1,20,336 newly recruited teachers who cleared the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-1) conducted by the BPSC. TRE-2 results were also declared by the Commission to fill a total of 86,557 teacher positions in the state.

Despite attempts to seek comments from Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar, no response was received. The BPSC has agreed to provide thumb impressions of selected candidates from TRE-1 and TRE-2 for matching during the re-verification drive and counseling. The re-verification process will be conducted in batches, and anomalies detected during thumb impression matching will lead to immediate legal action. The letter also highlights the examination of Aadhaar card history during re-verification to prevent impostors from making unauthorized changes. The BPSC has debarred 49 candidates allegedly involved in impersonation in school teacher competitive examinations.

Source: PTI

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