Bihar's Fake-Degree Teachers

“Around 2.5 lakh school teachers were appointed after Nitish Kumar took over as Bihar Chief Minister in 2005; candidates were required to submit mark sheets or degrees, without a written examination, to be recruited as contractual (Shikshak Bahali) teachers.”

— Government of Bihar, Education Department, State government running successive Shikshak Bahali (teacher recruitment) drives between 2006 and 2015 · 1 January 2006

This describes the general design of Bihar's large-scale contractual-teacher recruitment programme rather than a specific public commitment on a fixed date; the recruitment relied on document verification rather than a competitive written test, which is the structural weakness later exploited to submit forged credentials.

That teachers recruited into Bihar's government school system between 2006 and 2015 would hold genuine educational qualifications and teaching-eligibility credentials, verified against the issuing institutions, as a baseline condition of public employment in the classroom.

Bihar's own teacher-recruitment eligibility rules requiring genuine, verifiable academic degrees and, following the National Council for Teacher Education framework, valid Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualification for later recruitment cycles.

In force from 1 January 2006

Following a long-running vigilance investigation into the 2006–2015 contractual-teacher recruitment drives, Bihar's Education Department has moved to dismiss 3,035 government school teachers found, on state-wide document verification, to have secured their jobs using fake degrees or forged certificates. As of the reported crackdown, 1,830 First Information Reports had been registered against affected teachers, and the department has separately undertaken re-verification of more than one lakh more recently recruited teachers after complaints of impersonation (with 4,000 randomly re-checked and at least three impersonators identified). The state has said it will recover salaries and honorariums paid to the dismissed teachers, with interest, once departmental proceedings conclude.

As of 10 July 2026

1. 1 Jan 2006Announcement
   Large-scale contractual teacher recruitment begins

   Bihar government begins hiring roughly 2.5 lakh contractual (Shikshak Bahali) teachers over the following decade based on submitted mark sheets/degrees rather than a written exam.

2. 19 Jan 2016Status
   Early fake-degree crackdown reported

   Reporting on roughly 200 teachers facing action over fake degrees in an earlier phase of scrutiny, an early sign of the credential-verification problem later addressed at much larger scale.

3. 1 Jan 2023Milestone
   Re-verification of newly recruited teachers ordered

   Bihar Education Department orders re-verification of over one lakh recently recruited teachers after complaints that some appointees were impersonators; 4,000 selected teachers called for random re-verification, with at least three impersonators identified.

4. 10 Jul 2026Milestone
   3,035 teachers to be dismissed, 1,830 FIRs registered

   State-wide verification of the 2006–2015 recruitment drives concludes that 3,035 teachers used fake degrees or forged certificates; the Education Department begins the dismissal process and 1,830 FIRs have been registered.

Departmental dismissal proceedings are underway against 3,035 teachers, and 1,830 criminal FIRs have been registered in connection with fake or forged credentials. This entry has not found confirmation of any criminal convictions arising from these FIRs, and the recovery of past salaries is described as pending completion of the departmental process.

• This entry has not located and reviewed the original Bihar Vigilance Bureau report or an official Education Department order/press release; all facts are drawn from news reporting summarising them.
• One source references up to 24,000 candidates as being 'at risk' of losing their jobs in a related or overlapping context; this entry has not been able to reconcile that figure with the 3,035 confirmed dismissals and flags it as unverified rather than including it as fact.
• No criminal trial outcomes, convictions, or acquittals arising from the 1,830 FIRs have been found as of this entry's research; the matter should be treated as an active administrative/criminal process, not a concluded one.
• The exact scope of 'Shikshak Bahali' as used here (which specific recruitment phases/cadres are covered) has not been independently confirmed against an official government definition.