NOCs with forged signatures processed for affiliation
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 16 2023: Day after education minister Th Basanta Kumar clarified that the government did not issue NOC to any school for affiliation with CBSE since May this year, initial finding of an investigation into the report of several schools getting CBSE affiliation has revealed the use of fake No Objection Certificates (NOC) with forged signatures of ZEOs concerned in seeking the affiliation.

A reliable source said that an official team led by education minister Th Basanta Kumar on Saturday looked into the issue with the secretary of the ministry of education and chairman of CBSE.

During the meeting, the official team found that 25 schools from Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts were found processing affiliation with CBSE recently.

Of them, 10 schools received affiliation a few months before the crisis broke out and 15 schools amid the crisis period.

The official team enquired about the matter with the ZEOs concerned over the phone to which the ZEOs told the minister that they did not issue any NOC for any school and added that the NOC must be fake and their signatures forged.

Further investigation is going on to find the persons responsible behind forging the signatures in the fake NOCs, the source said.

Meanwhile, talking to The People's Chronicle over the phone, education minister Th Basanta Kumar disclosed that initial findings show that fake NOCs with forged signatures of ZEOs concerned were used in seeking affiliation with CBSE.

More importantly, ZEOs are not authorised to issue such NOCs as approval of the minister and commissioner concerned is mandatory for the same.

Necessary actions will be taken up to cancel the affiliation and appropriate actions initiated against the ZEOs if they are found lying.

At the same time, how CBSE granted affiliation on the strength of NOCs issued by ZEOs is also still a question and the matter will be investigated further, he affirmed.

In the light of the recent events and findings, the affiliation of 25 educational institutions located in Kuki-Zo populated areas just before and after the crisis erupted has raised a serious question on the possibilities of the violence being part of a well planned strategy.

Dr Lamtinthang Haokip, who shared the information about the new affiliation of the schools in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts with CBSE, has deleted his X (Twitter) account a couple of days after sharing the information.

There is no information on the reason behind deactivating his account.

Earlier on Friday, the minister told TPC that the last time the state government had issued NOC for affiliation with CBSE was in May 2020 and after that the government had not issued NOC to any educational institutions including during the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the state.

He also said that he is ready to resign from his post as the education minister if there was any such issuance.

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