Baripada: A teacher was dismissed and his wife, also a teacher, suspended after they were found to have submitted forged educational certificates during appointment at a school in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
District Education Officer (DEO) Nabakishore Giri said action was taken after ample evidence against Jajati Barik and his wife Sasmita Sahu.
Barik, of Kalunigoda village in Dhenkanal district, was appointed as a Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) on contract at the Majhigadia Government High School in Mayurbhanj district in 2013.
He was regularised on January 8, 2019 after six years as a contractual teacher. Sasmita was also a Sanskrit teacher at the same school.
In 2020, following a complaint, Barik was asked to submit his original +3 Arts and BEd certificates. He didn’t.
On May 23, 2022, the Deputy Controller of Examination of Utkal University informed the Mayurbhanj DEO that Barik’s and his wife’s educational certificates were forged.
Barik has been asked to refund Rs 16,99,093 within one month or face legal action.