The Bihar government is set to start distribution of appointment letters to 42,000 candidates selected for teachers’ post through panchayati raj and urban civic bodies from February 23 after three rounds of counselling, education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said on Wednesday.

Given the new academic session begins from April 1, the government has decided not to wait for verification of documents furnished by candidates, as was decided earlier to avoid past controversy over submission of fake certificates.

Choudhary said appointment letters would be distributed by recruitment agencies on submission of affidavit by candidates whose documents verification could not be completed due to various reasons, including ongoing board exams and Covid disruptions. The affidavit, in prescribed format, clearly mentions that all the documents are bonafide and there is no conviction in any criminal case, failing which the appointment will be automatically void.

“Those candidates whose documents have been verified will start getting their salary immediately, while those with pending document verification will be given joining but salary payment will start only after verification is completed,” the minister said, adding 95% of the CTET (Central teacher eligibility test)/BETET (Bihar elementary teacher eligibility test) certificates had been verified, while others were in the process.

The department is treading cautiously because despite warning, 562 candidates were found to have submitted forged CTET/BETET certificates. “I have asked the district authorities to initiate legal action against them,” Choudhary said.

The recruitment of school teachers between 2006 and 2015 through panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies had landed in the Patna High Court following allegations of use of forged documents by a large number of candidates and the probe has been on for nearly seven years now. A few thousand teachers had also resigned under the HC’s amnesty scheme.

The HC, which ordered the vigilance probe into appointment of teachers in 2015, had in the past expressed displeasure over the slow probe due to over 90,000 missing folders containing documents, following which the department asked the teachers to upload scanned copies of their certificates on the specified portal, but that process has also been slow. The department has now clearly said that those not uploading it would be assumed to be illegal appointees and removed.

While the department has tightened things this time, it has struggled to find enough suitable candidates as per reservation roster. Against 90,762 vacancies, it could get just 42,000, as suitable candidates for all the categories could not be found. The response for science and math subjects was also low. Besides, the department organised counselling at all the nearly 8,500 recruiting agencies at the same time and date to avoid duplication.

“Earlier, the same candidate used to find their name in 4-5 recruiting agencies and they ultimately joined at one. This time, the candidate can appear at only one place. That has also contributed to fewer number of candidates. But now we will add all these vacancies with the seventh round of recruitment for secondary and higher secondary schools, which will start soon after the completion of sixth round,” the minister said.

Bihar had taken a decision in 2013 to open a higher secondary school in every panchayat. The state has 8,387 panchayats, while the government has started 6,421 higher secondary schools in panchayats which had none by setting up new ones or upgrading existing middle schools. The total number of higher secondary schools now in the state is 9,360, though adequate infrastructure and teachers’ strength is still lacking in many of them.

Earlier this month, chief minister Nitish Kumar had directed the education department to meet the requirement of teachers and infrastructure in a phased manner so that the students could avail up to higher secondary education within panchayat itself.