The Maharashtra State Examination Council has issued a list of 7,880 candidates from the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) 2019 ,whose certificates have been declared invalid and who have been barred for life from appearing for TET ever again to become a teacher. The 480-page letter by the Examination Council, dated August 3, mentions details of these candidates, such as complete name and exam seat number, which can be used by schools to verify if any of them have been appointed.
Teachers Eligibility Test 2019 has been embroiled in a controversy after Pune Police uncovered a scam linked to it.
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In March this year, The Indian Express had reported the beginning of the verification process of these candidates’ certificates, after Pune Cyber Police submitted a list of suspected candidates to the Council. At the end of this independent verification process by the Council, it was revealed that of these 7,880 candidates, 7,500 are those who qualified in the TET by changing marks through wrongful means. As many as 293 candidates did not change marks but managed to get a fake TET qualified certificate and 81 other candidates wrongfully acquired TET pass certificates.
“Six names have been repeated in the list, which is an error. So essentially, there are a total of 7,874 candidates. But we have continued with the list of 7,880 candidates which was issued by the police, to avoid any confusion,” said Shailaja Darade, the commissioner of the Council who has issued the letter, along with the list.
If these candidates are appointed anywhere as teachers based on these certificates attained through wrongful means, their appointment has to be cancelled. “The Council, however, has no means to find out if these candidates have been appointed as teachers in any school. So, we will be forwarding this list to the office of the Director of Education,” added Darade.
According to the initial list of suspected candidates, which was given to the Council for verification by Pune Police, there were candidates from all 35 districts of Maharashtra. But the highest number of these candidates was from Nashik, at 1,154, followed by Dhule with 1,002 candidates. Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts with 808 and 614 candidates, respectively. There were 161 candidates from Mumbai, 257 from Thane, 42 from Raigad, and 176 from Palghar with invalid certificates.