4 lakh fake admissions: Vigilance Bureau had detected 40% dropout rate in 532 schools

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, June 29

With the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the CBI, Chandigarh, set to investigate three cases pertaining to 4 lakh ‘fake’ students in state government schools after 10 years, the State Vigilance Bureau (now Anti-Corruption Bureau) had found a dropout rate of over 40 per cent in 532 schools across the state during its probe.

Benefits were misused

It was found that benefits meant for students from backward or poor sections to encourage school attendance, including those under the midday meal scheme, were being misused

The scam came to light during proceedings regarding guest teachers in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The state counsel informed the court that upon verifying the data in March 2016, it was discovered that out of an enrolment of 22 lakh students in government schools across different classes, only 18 lakh students were found to be genuine. This revealed that four lakh fake admissions had been made. It meant that benefits meant for students from backward or poor sections to encourage school attendance, including those under the midday meal scheme, were being misused.

Following this revelation, the inquiry was handed over to the Vigilance Bureau, resulting in the registration of seven FIRs in 2018. The admissions were related to academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16. FIR no. 4, dated March 30, 2018, registered in Karnal, highlighted 50,687 cases of dropouts, School Leaving Certificates (SLC), or absentees in elementary education across Karnal, Panipat, and Jind districts during those years.

Similarly, FIR no. 8, dated March 30, 2018, registered in Hisar, reported 5,735 such cases in Hisar, Bhiwani, Sirsa, and Fatehabad districts. FIR no. 3, dated March 30, 2018, registered in Faridabad, recorded 2,777 cases of dropouts or SLCs or absentees in elementary education in 2014-15, and 2,063 cases in 2015-16.

Subsequently, the state DGP was directed to temporarily assign 10 police personnel from each district (about 200) to assist the bureau. Detailed guidelines were provided to these personnel to gather information on the number of students admitted, dropout rate, and utilisation of benefits such as midday meals, uniforms, school bags, and books for those sessions.

Data was collected from 12,924 schools, identifying schools with varying dropout rate— from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. A total of 532 schools across 22 districts were found to have an alarmingly high dropout rate exceeding 40 per cent.

Specifically, there were 86 such schools in Nuh, 69 in Mahendragarh, 35 in Gurugram, 34 in Bhiwani, 29 in Sonepat, 28 in Jhajjar, 25 in Hisar, and 22 each in Palwal and Yamunanagar.

Due to perceived delays in the bureau’s investigation, the court ordered the CBI to take over the case on November 2, 2019. The CBI challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, but its petition was recently dismissed.