Lucknow: An Uttar Pradesh school teacher named Anamika Shukla has been found to be working in 25 schools simultaneously since over a year although there is a strict digital database. She has managed to get a salary of Rs. 1 crore through these means.
Unbelievable but true, Ms. Shukla was a full-time teacher who was initially employed by the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) and was later discovered to be working concurrently in many other schools situated in multiple districts including Ambedkar Nagar, Baghpat, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Prayagraj and more.
The bizarre incident came to the notice of officials when a database of teachers over the state was curated. This digital record of teachers, made on the Manav Sampada portal needed teachers’ personal details along with the date of joining the school and their designation.
As soon as the records were updated, the database showed a specific Anamika Shukla who had the same personal details folder throughout, listed in 25 schools as their employee.
Director general of school education, Vijay Kiran Anand, said that an investigation is in progress to determine the facts about this teacher who isn’t being available to get contacted over this matter.
“It is surprising that the teacher, Anamika Shukla, was able to do this despite real-time monitoring of teachers’ attendance in UP primary schools. How can a teacher mark her presence at several places even when they are supposed to mark their attendance online on the Prerna portal? It needs a thorough probe,” said the official who had first received a complaint about the teacher in March.
According to the records in all the schools, the teacher, Shukla, was on record, a part of these schools since more than a year.
KGBV is a residential school for girls from weaker sections and teachers are selected on contract basis. They have a salary of around Rs 30,000 per month. Each block in a district has one Kasturba Gandhi School.
From over a span of 13 months until the February of 2020, Shukla has managed to earn Rs. 1 crore as salary from the various schools through fraudulent means.
Anamika Shukla is a native of Manipuri and was last found working in Rae Bareli’s KGBV till February, when her forgery came in the open.
The basic education officer in Rae Bareli, Anand Prakash, said that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan office had issued a letter to six districts to check about a teacher named Anamika Shukla.
“Though Rae Bareli was not named in the list, we did cross check and found the woman working at our KGBV also. A notice was issued to her but she did not report back. Her salary was immediately stopped,” he said.
He said that due to the lockdown, the inquiry could not proceed but now records will be verified. It hasn’t been found yet if Shukla was using the same bank account for taking salaries from different schools.
