A Vigilance inspection has exposed extensive corruption and procedural violations in several offices under the state General Education Department that oversee the appointments and transfers of staff in aided schools.

As part of “Operation Black Board,” the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) conducted checks in 55 offices on Wednesday. These included 41 District Education Offices, seven Regional Deputy Director offices for Higher Secondary Education, and seven Assistant Director offices for Vocational Higher Secondary Schools, the agency said in its statement.

According to the VACB, they had received inputs that certain officials were demanding bribes from candidates for clearing files related to appointments, approving postings, creating new positions and processing applications under disability reservation in aided institutions.

Investigators also learned that some officials forced candidates to approach retired education department staff—who functioned as “service consultants”—to correct their service records. “These retired officials reportedly acted as intermediaries, collecting large bribes from teachers and distributing the money among certain officials in the education offices,” the VACB noted.

The agency added that, in several cases, appointments under disability quota had been cleared without following the required procedures. In Thiruvananthapuram, officials found that 11 teachers were appointed in a school under the Regional Deputy Director's office without complying with disability reservation rules.

In Alappuzha, the probe uncovered that ₹77,500 was transferred from clerks of two aided schools to the Google Pay account of a senior clerk at the Kuttanad Education Office, who handled the approval of aided appointments. Another staff member at the Alappuzha Education Office received ₹1.40 lakh in questionable Google Pay transactions, which the official failed to justify, VACB added.

In Malappuram, checks revealed that an employee in the Regional Deputy Director’s Office had taken ₹2,000 through Google Pay from a teacher, allegedly as a fee for processing a transfer request. Investigators also found additional transactions worth ₹20,500 in the same account that the official could not explain. Unaccounted cash totalling ₹4,900 was seized from personnel at the Malappuram District Education Office.

A similar pattern of irregularities was found in Kannur. According to VACB, an aided school under the Taliparamba District Education Office had marked attendance for three students who did not actually study there, solely to retain a teacher post. One of these children was enrolled in a Kendriya Vidyalaya.

In another aided school under the Thalassery Education Office, records showed 28 students in a class, but only nine were present during physical verification. VACB said 19 students’ attendance had been falsified to justify teacher retention.

“Attendance had been falsely recorded for 19 additional students to retain teacher posts. Bank account statements of suspected officials, their family members, and service consultants acting as agents will be collected and examined in detail,” Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham said.