A third of ‘disabled’ teachers may possess false certificates

'Of the estimated 7,000 teachers, at least 2,500 may be using false certificates'.

Nearly one-third of all government school teachers who have taken employment under the disability quota may be either faking disability or in possession of false certificates, K.S. Rajanna, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, has claimed.

Of the estimated 7,000 teachers, at least 2,500 may be using false certificates, he told reporters on Thursday. “The number of teachers employed under the disability quota (three per cent reservations currently apply) is quite small … Even in this, we suspect based on our examinations so far, that many may have used false certificates to get the job,” he said.

In the last financial year, the office of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities had recommended action against 17 teachers for producing false certificates to get jobs in Chintamani taluk of Chickballapur district, while 2013 saw action against a man who had obtained the post of a school principal in Bidar using forged documents.

The Commissioner’s office, which has quasi-judicial powers, will now summon all teachers who have been employed under this quota and start the verification process in phases. “We will also find out the government doctor who has given the medical certificate and take action,” he said. Using disabilities or disease as an excuse for either employment or transfers was exposed by

The Hindu in August 2014, when 492 teachers were found to have sought transfers as they were “terminally ill”. Thirty of these cases were re-examined, while three officials in the Department of Public Instruction were suspended for procedural violations.