Vigilance operation unearths corruption in General Education department offices in Kerala

According to officials, this payment was reportedly taken in return for processing a transfer application.Additional suspicious transactions amounting to Rs 20,500 were also found in the same officials Google Pay account, without any satisfactory explanation.During the inspection, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 4,900 was also seized from officials at the Malappuram District Education Office, VACB said.In Kannur district, inspections revealed that an aided school under the Taliparamba District Education Office had marked attendance for three children who did not study there, to retain a teacher post.

The VACB has unearthed widespread irregularities and corruption at various offices under the General Education Department handling appointments and transfers of aided-school teachers and staff across Kerala, officials said on Thursday.

General Education Minister V Sivankutty announced that an urgent internal inquiry committee will be constituted at the department-level following the VACB operation.

''All files and procedures that enabled corruption will be thoroughly examined. The offices will be computerised to prevent any corruption and a timeline will be introduced in processing files,'' he said.

He extended full support to VACB for further investigation and said that strict action would taken against officials involved in the corrupt practices.

''Firm legal action will be taken against all guilty officials as well as retired officers who acted as intermediaries,'' the minister said.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau found graft as part of ''Operation Black Board'' in which 55 offices across the state, including 41 District Education Offices, 7 Regional Deputy Director offices responsible for Higher Secondary Education, and 7 Assistant Director offices responsible for Vocational Higher Secondary Schools were inspected on Wednesday.

In a statement, VACB said that information was received that some 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.

To facilitate these processes, some officials allegedly compelled candidates to approach retired education department officials—acting as ''service consultants''—to rectify their service files.

''These retired officials reportedly acted as intermediaries, collecting large bribes from teachers and distributing the money among certain officials in the education offices,'' VACB said.

In some offices, appointments under disability reservation were approved without adhering to the mandatory norms, it said.

According to VACB officials, in Thiruvananthapuram district, inspections revealed that 11 teachers had been appointed in one school under the Regional Deputy Director without following disability reservation norms.

In Alappuzha district, it was found that Rs 77,500 had been transferred from the accounts of clerks in two aided schools to the Google Pay account of a senior clerk in the Kuttanad Education Office, who handled aided appointment approvals.

Another official in the Alappuzha Education Office received Rs 1.40 lakh in suspicious transactions through Google Pay, for which the official could not provide a proper explanation, VACB said.

In Malappuram district, inspections revealed that an official at the Malappuram Regional Deputy Director’s Office had received Rs 2,000 via Google Pay from a teacher at an aided school. According to officials, this payment was reportedly taken in return for processing a transfer application.

Additional suspicious transactions amounting to Rs 20,500 were also found in the same official’s Google Pay account, without any satisfactory explanation.

During the inspection, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 4,900 was also seized from officials at the Malappuram District Education Office, VACB said.

''In Kannur district, inspections revealed that an aided school under the Taliparamba District Education Office had marked attendance for three children who did not study there, to retain a teacher post. One of these children was found to be a current student of a Kendriya Vidyalaya,'' the VACB statement said.

In another aided school under the Thalassery Education Office, records showed that 28 students were enrolled in a class, whereas the physical inspection found only nine students present, VACB added.

''Attendance had been falsely recorded for 19 additional 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 in detail,'' Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham said.