EWS admission: Over 100 fake certificates found in E S’bhum

Jamshedpur: The East Singbhum education department doing verification of income certificates of the parents and birth certificates of their children for free admission to private English schools under Right to Education (RTE) Act have found that several applicants have submitted fake documents.
The department which is getting the documents examined at the respective Notified Area Committee (NACs) and Circle Office (CO) has so far discovered that more than 60 applicants have given fake birth certificates while 40 submitted fake income certificates. The department will strike down their applications for admissions under the RTE Act.
This year, 1976 aspirants have submitted applications for admission under the EWS category, of which little more than 1000 documents have been verified so far, said department officials.
The 1976 applications are against 2100 seats reserved for free and compulsory admission of the EWS candidates in 60 English medium schools in the urban circle.
District education officer Nirmala Barelia said applications shall be verified by the end of March following which admission to the entry level classes will begin for the academic session starting in April. “Those who submit fake documents should be penalised as per the law,” she said.
RTE activist Umesh Kumar said, "Knowing that 25% of the seats are reserved for the EWS candidates, some well-earning parents try to hoodwink the officials and get the admission by way of submitting fake earning documents," RTE activist said.
Further he said some parents make forged birth certificates to reduce the age of their child to get admission to their desired class.
St Mary's English School spokesperson A K Pandey said school's role in the verification of the documents is nil. "We take admission of the candidate only after the documents are okayed by the education department. There's no scope for aspirants to deceive or mislead the school," said Pandey.