Noida: DM orders inquiry into Navodaya school admission fraud

The Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate has ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the admission process for class six in the district’s only Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Dhoom Manikpur village in Dadri

The Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate has ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the admission process for class six in the district’s only Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Dhoom Manikpur village in Dadri.

(Representational image)

The inquiry will be conducted by the school’s principal, Anil Kumar Mishra, who is also the whistleblower in the case, officials said.

In August last year, online admissions for class six started and applications were invited from the students of various schools in the district. Several students had applied for the 80 seats in the school till September 2021. However, while verifying the documents of the applicants, the school administration found that as many as 72 students allegedly submitted forged documents.

The issue was highlighted by the principal to the basic siksha adhikari (BSA) in the district but no action was taken for over two months, the officials said. Mishra then approached the district magistrate who then ordered the inquiry, the officials said.

“The Navodaya schools take in students from the district itself. However, according to the preliminary inquiry by the principal, fake documents were submitted by students of other institutions who have not studied in Gautam Budh Nagar. I have asked the officials, including BSA, to get clarification from these schools, take remedial action and disqualify such applicants,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate.

According to the officials, a female official has allegedly been found collaborating with smaller schools in the district to get admission for students based on false documents. While the age limit for admission to grade six is 9-13 years, those in the 15-18 age group have also applied. Additionally, some students from Bihar and other districts of Uttar Pradesh have also applied for admission, the officials said.

“We found that around 15 schools are involved in this fraud. We will be compiling the report and sending it to the DM soon, along with other findings,” said Mishra, the principal of Navodaya school.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are residential schools set up in all districts across the country for promoting education in rural areas. The admissions are done on the basis of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Selection Test, which is designed, developed and conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. The test is held annually on an all-India basis.