Harshit Sharma’s selection in Google were incorrect. Rubinderjit Singh Brar, launched a formal inquiry into the incident.
A day after it was found that claims made by Harshit Sharma, his school and the UT Education Department about the boy’s selection in Google were incorrect, the Director of School Education, Rubinderjit Singh Brar, launched a formal inquiry into the incident on Wednesday. Brar met Indra Beniwal, Principal, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33-B, and two of her colleagues, Deepkiran and Meenu, and recorded their statements. Brar shall be submitting a detailed report to B L Sharma, Secretary (Education), Chandigarh.
Harshit, a Kurukshetra resident and a student of Class-XII (IT) stream of GMSSS, had recently passed out. On July 29, Chandigarh Administration had announced that he had been hired by Google for a monthly training in graphic designing worth Rs 4 lakh. The announcement was widely reported in the media. Later, when queries were sent to Google, the announcement was found to be incorrect.
The school principal and two teachers submitted their written statements to Brar on Wednesday. They also gave him a purported letter of appointment (that Harshit had shared with Deepkiran on WhatsApp), Harshit’s picture with politicians honouring him and his family in Kurukshetra and the web link through which he appeared in the online interview. The teachers also submitted a snapshot of Harshit’s Facebook page on which he has mentioned his location in California and workplace – Google.
Brar would submit his probe report to Education Secretary B L Sharma on Thursday. He was not available for comment. “I will be able to comment after I receive a report from the education department tomorrow,” said Sharma.
“Soon after media reports went viral saying Google had not hired Harshit Sharma, the school education director asked me to submit my comments. I and my two schoolteachers, Deepkiran and Meenu, who had taught Harshit in Class XII, met the DSE and submitted our statements. Both, Meenu and Deepkiran narrated that Harshit had come to school on July 15 and met Deepkiran. He offered sweets to her and other students and informed that he had been selected by Google. Harshit added that he had appeared in an online interview and was selected because of his poster designs. Later, he shared his appointment letter with his teacher Deepkiran on WhatsApp,” said Beniwal.
Bharti Sharma, Harshit’s mother, blamed the school for not verifying Harshit’s information. “Harshit is at a private hospital in Chandigarh. I don’t want my child to be disturbed.”
