DNA; Saturday, December 11, 2010,
Are non-existent schools selling fake certificates to help students?Apparently, there are such schools in the city.
More appalling is that such certificates are attested by gazetted officers, without checking their veracity.
In one such incident, a girls’ school on St Marks Road readmitted a student, who had earlier left the institution after she had failed to clear the seventh standard examinations.
She gained readmission to the Bishop Cotton Girls’ School by producing a transfer certificate (TC) issued by ‘New Megha School’ at Indraprastha Layout in Ramamurthynagar.
The TC was attested by GP Vasu, gazetted manager of the office of block education officer, Bangalore East, located in KR Puram.When contacted, Vasu said he had attested the TC by mistake. “It happened accidentally. I will make necessary corrections if the school which has given admission to the girl sends me the TC and other documents,” he told this newspaper.
Principal Lydia Joshua of Bishop Cotton said the TC the girl had produced to gain admission to standard nine was in order. She said appropriate action would be taken after verifying records from the directorate of public instruction.
Meanwhile, the uncle of the student said he was not aware of any New Megha School.
“I do not know anything about the school. The TC was attested by a responsible officerand I stand by it,” the man, who identified himself as Sudhakar, said.
A pastor, Reuban Paul, claimedhe had been running the school before closing itthree months ago due to shortage of students.
DNA visited Indraprastha Layout and made several enquiries but could not find the school.
Nanjundaia, the block education officer, Bangalore East, said such a school had never functioned under his jurisdiction.
“It all started when I got an RTI application enquiring about the school. I immediately sent an inspector to Ramamurthynagar to find out the truth. He told me there was no such school and I had provided that information to the RTI applicant,” he said.
The RTI application was filed by Chezhiyan P, a resident of Chowrappa Layout in St Thomas Town.
Theofficer confirmed that the TC was attested by the gazetted manager of his office.
Nanjunadaiah recalled another incident involving the same school. A man had approached him sometime ago, claiming someone had cheated him on the pretext of selling the school. He claimed he had paid Rs2 lakh as advance.
“A person came to my office to enquire about the school. After verifying the records, my staff informed him that there was no school by that name. He left my office, but never returned,” the officer added.
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