Bathinda August 6:
            The problem of showing fake admissions of students in their official registers by the government schools has emerged as a major challenge for the higher authorities of the State Education Department, who were working hard to bring about educational reforms.
The Director General of School Education (DGSE), Punjab, had recently directed all district education officers (secondary education) to analyse the ratio between the number of students and the posts of teachers sanctioned for each school of their districts.
After compiling the report, the DEOs had to send their recommendations for rationalising the posts of the teachers. Following the orders, the DEOs, depending upon the data sent by the principals and school heads, prepared the reports and submitted it to the DGSE, Punjab.
However, during the inspection of the reports, some higher authorities of the Education Department observed that the reports were far removed from the actual data. Fearing the abolition of teachers’ posts in their respective schools, a number of principals and school heads were found accused of enrolling fake admissions of a large number of students.
Sources in the Education Department informed that the discrepancy came to light, when the principals of some schools, who were already on the scanner of the Education Department, tampered with the admissions and attendance records. Heads of some schools, where the number of students was negligible, instead of giving the real data, tampered with the attendance register and entered a number of fake admissions, just to avoid the declaration of a number of sanctioned posts as surplus, informed a senior Education Department official.
Taking serious notice of the irregularity, DGSE, Punjab, Krishan Kumar directed all DEOs to ask school heads and principals to immediately rectify the irregularity and resend a fresh report, which would be further submitted to the DGSE. In a communiqué, a copy of which is with media, the DGSE had termed the development as “serious in nature.” Adding further, he stated that special teams were being constituted to conduct raids in the schools and if the discrepancy was found, the school heads and principals concerned, would have to face suspension.