Teachers wishing to apply to Government Arts and Science Colleges and Colleges of Education are in a fix as most of them are yet to receive their service certificates from their respective colleges, according to the Teachers Recruitment Board.
With only nine days left for the last date of applying, many have lost hope of getting the certificate and applying. TRB has allocated 15 marks for service certificate out of the total 34 marks. The service certificate provides details of the number of years of experience. Two marks are awarded for each year of service. The certificate must by attested by the Principal and submitted to the Department of Collegiate Education for further attestation.
C. Santhi, one of the applicants, says she has been trying since the first week of October to procure the certificate. “I was told that my records were destroyed in the rain. The college is yet to give a plausible solution,” she said. She and her husband M. Sakthivel, State secretary of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Employees’ Association have petitioned Collector T. G. Vinay seeking a solution.
Another applicant from Theni says his college told him that termites had destroyed his records.
All for a price
“These colleges are playing with our lives and show a nonchalant attitude. There is a price for the service certificate - it starts at ₹15,000 and goes up to ₹30,000,” he said.
Director of Collegiate Education R. Baskaran said apart from concerns from teachers, the department too had problems in sending the attested certificates to the board in time. “We received a notification on October 4. This was immediately followed by puja holidays. Now Deepavali is nearing. Presently colleges are conducting practical exams. So delay is caused in submitting the attested applications,” he said.
State coordinator of Save Higher Education movement R. Murali said submission of applications must be deferred by a month so that both officials and teachers can apply in peace.
Mr. Baskaran says they will be submitting a letter to the Director of Collegiate Education on Tuesday about postponing the last date.
To prevent corruption, a senior official from the Department of Collegiate Education said the office of the Director had sent a notification warning Principals against seeking bribe for issuing service certificate.
