Express News Service
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has suspended 20 officials including a RAS and two RPS officers for their suspicious role in failing to prevent cheating during the recent REET exam.
The move comes after the wife of a police constable was given the REET examination paper almost an hour before the test began last Sunday.
The REET exam was held to recruit 31,000 teachers for government schools in the state.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has announced that if the suspended officials are found guilty, they will be terminated from the service. Over the past year, paper leak and cheating rackets have been discovered in 5 major competitive exams in the state. With the role of many other officials also being regarded as dubious, the number of suspended officials could well rise in the near future.
This is the very first time in Rajasthan’s history that senior administrative and police personnel, as well as teachers, have been suspended in large numbers. Rajasthan Police had also detained five people on Monday for allegedly selling Bluetooth device-equipped ‘chappals’ worth Rs 6 lakh to applicants in the REET examination.
Taking strict action against those involved in allegedly suspicious activities during the REET-2021exam, the Rajasthan government has suspended 2 senior officials and 13 employees of the education department. In Sawai Madhopur district’s Wazirpur, Sub-Divisional Officer Narendra Kumar Meena (RAS) and two RPS officers named Narayan Tiwari and Rajulal Meena have been suspended. There were suspicious around the role of 13 employees of the education department during the conduct of the exam on Sunday.
The officials were suspended after FIRs were registered against them, according to School Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra. He asserted that the employees will be terminated from service in case allegations are found true after the police investigation. Those suspended included 10 teachers, one lecturer, one physical education teacher, and one junior assistant.
In order to avoid cheating during the highly competitive REET examination, the Rajasthan administration had halted internet and phone services in over a dozen districts of the state, including capital Jaipur, from 6 am to 6 pm on Sunday. In addition, over 70,000 policemen were put on duty to counter cheating threats in the REET exam which saw 16 lakh candidates enrolling for the recruitment of 31,000 teachers in government schools of the state.
Paper leaks and cheating rackets have become a huge headache for the Gehlot government in recent times. Over the past year, such incidents have rocked five major competitive exams in the state. These include the Test to recruit SIs, NEET-2021, JEN-2021, Librarians of Grade 3 and now the REET Exam for recruiting teachers. By taking strict action against dubious officials, the Gehlot government is trying to check the menace that threatens to give a bad name to all government recruitment tests in the state.