JAJPUR: Three government school teachers including two women have been booked for allegedly producing fake Odisha Eligibility Teachers Test (OTET) certificates to get jobs in Barachana block. The accused teachers were identified as Aniya Kumar Baral (Teligada primary school), Jayanti Sahoo (Akarabad primary school) and Raziya Sultana (Charinangal primary school).
Block education officer (BEO) of Barachana Harihar Dalei lodged an FIR with police against the trio for submitting fake OTET certificates on Thursday. The complaint was lodged on the direction of district education officer (DEO) Ranjan Kumar Giri.
Sources said an RTI activist Abhimanyu Barik had sought information about the teachers employed in government schools of Barachana, their qualifications and related certificates. He was informed that some teachers were serving in government schools by submitting fake certificates.
Barik then drew the attention of the DEO towards these illegal postings in March this year. Basing on the allegation, Giri launched an investigation and found the three fraudulent cases in primary schools of Barachana. During the investigation, it was also found that the three teachers also got increments on the basis of their forged OTET certificates.
The DEO asked Dalei to issue show-cause notices to the trio. “We have stopped their salaries and steps are being taken to dismiss them from service as per government rule,” the BEO said. Basing on the complaint, police have registered a case and are investigating into the allegation. Barachana IIC PB Rout said, “Probe is on and the accused teachers will be arrested if found guilty.”