VACB recommends Kerala PSC to conduct aided-school appointments to stop corruption

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has recommended that the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) conduct appointments to public-funded government-aided schools to prevent corruption in postings.

The agency’s suggestions, communicated to the government by Director, VACB, Manoj Abraham, last week, came in the wake of “Operation Blackboard”, which targeted District Educational Offices (41), Regional Deputy Director Offices (7) and Assistant Director Offices of the Vocational Higher Secondary Education Wing (7) in Kerala on November 11. 

“Operation Blackboard” had detected brazen falsification of student admissions and attendance registers in aided schools to retain existing teaching posts and create new ones, in return for sizeable backhanders from job applicants and hefty commissions for corrupt officials in district educational offices.

The VACB also unearthed serious violations of the statutory reservation norms prescribed under the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016. 

The agency insisted that aided-school managements publish information on appointments in the disability category for official scrutiny, to ensure compliance with the law. 

The VACB also recommended that the government use the Samanwaya Portal to track school appointments in real time to detect any anomalies.

It also asked the government to insist that the aided school managements publish online, on the sixth working day of every academic year, the details of students with addresses, the total student strength, the number of sanctioned divisions, and sanctioned staff strength.

Moreover, management should file the information as an affidavit with the local VACB office to pre-empt manipulation.

The VACB recommended the creation of an independent team of competent General Education officials, recommended by the District Collector, to verify the number of students, which is the baseline relied upon by aided managements to fix the staff strength, or justify their demand for new posts.

It also recommended the creation of a Grievance Redressal Cell to address service-related complaints of aided school staff. 

The VACB recommended that the government regularly rotate staff in charge of sections handling aided school appointments and staff matters to prevent them from forming a corrupt nexus with private managements. 

The operation detected serious procedural violations concerning appointments, regularisation of service, creation of posts, fixing of staff strength based on the number of students and processing of service matters, signalling an entrenched corrupt nexus between officials and private managements of government-aided schools in the State.