NEW DELHI: Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha on Friday told Rajya Sabha that the HRD Ministry does not maintain data on fake education boards functioning in the country.
Responding to a written question in the Upper House of the Parliament Kushwaha said, "HRD ministry does not maintain data in respect of the number of fake boards functioning and the number of students who have fallen prey to such boards. However, instructions were issued to states and Union Territories to initiate action against such boards," Kushwaha said.
"Education being in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, a majority of education boards come under the administrative control of respective state governments and it is for them to curb the activities of such education boards," he added.
The national capital has the most number of bogus school education boards and universities in India, dishing out fake degrees and certificates to hundreds of unsuspecting students each year.
The National Institute of Open Schooling, an approved education board under the Union HRD ministry, lists 47 fake boards on its website, of which 21 are in Delhi alone.
There were 74 fake boards listed in the 2016 prospectus of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, of which 44 were in Delhi. Also, the Capital has the second-highest number of fake universities in the country, five out of 22 , according to the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Sources in the government have confirmed that there is no central law or authority to define fake or unrecognised boards of education. But those boards that have not been recognised by state governments or the Union HRD ministry come under the category of fake board.