How ‘anonymous’ Anamika became ‘synonymous’ with fraud

LUCKNOW:Anamika means ‘anonymous,’ but these days the name (Anamika Shukla) is heard almost everywhere -- from TV to newspapers and in political leaders and common man’s conversations in Uttar Pradesh.

The name Anamika is registered as teacher in as many as nine Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), government boarding schools for girls, and at least three primary schools in UP. She was called a ‘mastermind’ and a con artist who managed to draw salaries from all these schools. However, the obvious was not true.

The real Anamika Shukla, 27, continues to remain anonymous, far away from the plots hatched by some education department officials, who used her name and educational certificates to weave an intricate web of education fraud in the state.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. According to sources, the state government paid close to Rs 1 crore, but the education department officials claims a sum of Rs 12.24 lakh has been paid to six Anamikas (proxy teachers).

Action has been initiated against five of the six proxy teachers and the mastermind was nabbed on Monday. THE MODUS OPERANDI “I applied for a job in Kasturba school in 2017 with all my educational certificates but I never worked in any Kasturba Gandhi school,” said the real Anamika Shukla, resident of Gonda district of east UP. She believes that the documents submitted by her were misused by the education department staff to appoint proxy teachers at multiple Kasturba schools across the state.

Her documents were used in nine Kasturba Gandhi schools. There are 5,000 teachers in 746 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidya

THE NAME ANAMIKA IS REGISTERED AS TEACHER IN AS MANY AS NINE KGBVS AND AT LEAST THREE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN UP

layas in UP who are appointed on contract on a monthly salary of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.

The 27-year-old real Anamika had a relatively good academic record. She scored 77% marks in high school (2007) and 79% in class 12 (2009).

In 2017, she applied for a science teacher’s post in Kasturba schools in five districts -- Sultanpur, Jaunpur, Basti, Mirzapur and Lucknow, but could not appear in the counselling at any place due to personal reasons.

And thereafter several Anamikas were appointed in these districts, as revealed now.

While the education department officials were appointing ‘fake Anamikas’, the real Anamika married Durgesh Shukla and started looking past her aim of becoming a science teacher. She was completely unaware of the fact that copies of her documents were being used to give jobs in her name.

On June 6 this year, police arrested the first woman teacher (fake Anamika) in Kasganj who allegedly drew salary from multiple schools in different districts.

The arrest opened a can of worms and investigators launched verification of documents of all 5,000 teachers of KGBVs. The verification led to five more women (fake Anamikas) from different districts, who used Anamika’s documents to get job and also withdrew salary.

On June 12, the Ambedkar Nagar police arrested a woman from Lakshmanpur village of Mainpuri district for teaching in the name of Anamika Shukla at KGBV in Ambedkar Nagar. She was provided a job by one Pushpendra Singh, the mastermind, who investigators believe provided job to several women in the name of Anamika.

The state government said departmental probe into a teacher drawing salary from multiple schools suggested payment of Rs 12.24 lakh was made from six schools. Anamika’s documents were found at nine GGBVs and three schools. Basic education minister Satish Chand Dwivedi said, “According to our probe, it has come to light that using Anamika Shukla’s documents, a sum of Ra 12.24 lakh was paid to six proxy teachers.”

Besides Baghpat, documents of Anamika were used in KGBVs in Varanasi, Kasganj, Amethi, Aligarh, Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Saharanpur and Ambedkar Nagar, he said.

“In many other places also the same documents were used but in some schools the candidate did not join or were absent at many places,” the minister said.

Education department officials claim that a probe had started in March immediately after the matter came to light but due to lockdown schools were closed and mobiles were switched off hence there was no progress. “A verification drive is on for over 5,000 teachers in all 746 KGBVs. A digital framework in use issues an alert when people with same details are found in other districts,” said director general for school education Vijay Kiran Anand.

Meanwhile, the uncovering of the scam not just cleared the real Anamika’s name but also brought her a job offer at a private primary school in Gonda.

Confirming the news, Anamika’s husband Durgesh Shukla said, “Anamika was offered a job at a private school, Chandrabhan Dutt Smarak Vidyalaya. After reading the news that the real Anamika was jobless, the school management decided to offer her a job.”

Now, the real Anamika wants all the controversy surrounding her name to end at the earliest.