Patna – In anticipation of a major event at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on November 2, where Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to distribute provisional appointment letters to newly recruited teachers, a heated debate has emerged over suspected anomalies in the selection process. Despite the government’s insistence on the historic nature of these appointments, dissenting voices have become more vocal.
In the interim, the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), responsible for conducting the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE), has released a list of 20 candidates who have been disqualified from taking any BPSC exam for the next five years. The disqualifications stem from issues such as failing in document verification, biometric discrepancies, and allegations of impersonation. Officials suggest that this number may increase.
It’s worth noting that the Education Department has clarified that the newly recruited teachers will not be immediately assigned to schools. Instead, they will receive provisional appointment letters. Teachers already in service who have also passed the TRE will remain in their current positions, with the option of requesting a transfer after six months. The official school allotment process will only commence after the Chhath festival, following another round of document verification and scrutiny of credentials. For now, they will be assigned to districts, according to a department representative.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has disclosed a list of candidates from Fatehpur block in Gaya, alleging that all newly recruited teachers there hail from Uttar Pradesh. He presented a letter from the Block Education Officer (BEO), which detailed the assignment of these teachers to various schools in Fatehpur until the provisional appointment letters are distributed.
Manjhi has drawn a parallel with the situation in Phulpur, suggesting a bias towards candidates from Uttar Pradesh. He took to social media to express his concerns, emphasizing the need for a domicile policy to prioritize Bihar’s youth in job allocations. He characterized the recruitment process as a “money for job” scheme, akin to the “land for job” practice in the Railways.
The Information and Public Relations Department of the Bihar government has initiated a social media campaign to counter opposition claims of irregularities in the selection process. Through video testimonials from successful candidates and education department officials, the department aims to reassure the public that the teacher recruitment test (TRE) results are accurate. It has highlighted that only 12% of successful candidates come from outside the state. However, opposition parties have requested data on reappointed teachers among those already in service.
With the controversy escalating, the BPSC has issued a notification outlining the tentative schedule for the next phase of teacher recruitment examinations for Class 6-12 and schools managed by the Extremely Backward Class Welfare Department, scheduled from December 7-10.
Critics have accused the government of unnecessary document verification, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive inquiry into the recruitment process. Opposition leader Vijay Kumar Sinha has stated that the government’s actions raise doubts about its confidence in the process and called for a thorough investigation.
