Vigilance operation unearths corruption in General Education Department offices in Kerala

thiruvananthapuram: the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (vacb) has unearthed widespread irregularities and corruption at offices under the general education department handling appointments and transfers of aided-school teachers and staff across kerala, officials said on thursday.the findings were part of “operation black board,” during which 55 offices were inspected on wednesday, including 41 district education offices, 7 regional deputy director offices for higher secondary education, and 7 assistant director offices for vocational higher secondary schools, vacb said.the agency said officials were accepting bribes from candidates for processing files related to appointments, approving appointments, creating new posts and handling appointments under disability reservation quotas in aided schools.some officials allegedly compelled candidates to approach retired department officials acting as “service consultants” to rectify service files. these intermediaries collected large bribes and reportedly distributed the money among certain officials.insome offices, appointments under disability reservation were approved without following mandatory norms.inthiruvananthapuram district, inspections found that 11 teachers had been appointed in one school under the regional deputy director without adhering to disability reservation norms.inalappuzha district, rs 77,500 was transferred from the accounts of clerks in two aided schools to the google pay account of a senior clerk in the kuttanad education office. another official in the district received rs 1.40 lakh in suspicious google pay transactions without proper explanation.inmalappuram district, an official received rs 2,000 via google pay from a teacher for processing a transfer application. additional suspicious transactions amounting to rs 20,500 were found in the same account. unaccounted cash of rs 4,900 was seized at the malappuram district education office.inkannur district, an aided school under the taliparamba district education office recorded attendance for three children who did not study there to retain a teacher post. one child was found to be studying in a kendriya vidyalaya.inanother aided school under the thalassery education office, records showed 28 students enrolled in a class, but only nine were present during physical inspection. attendance had been falsely marked for 19 students to retain teacher posts.“bank account statements of suspected officials, their family members, and service consultants acting as agents will be collected and examined,” vigilance director manoj abraham said.