Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Board may be the largest education administering body in the world, but its teacher recruitment standards have made it a laughing stock among other educational bodies in the world.

Take for instance the last year’s primary teachers’ recruitment drive of the Board which was highlighted by UK’s Daily Mail. More than 7 million applicants applied for the 72, 825 vacancies, with number of genuine applications being shamefully low at only 20.

How facetious were all prospective teachers in applying for the posts was evident right from the first section of the application. While one applicant identified himself as Osama Bin Laden, son of Bill Clinton, another young aspirant claimed to be Abcdefgh. For those who are interested, Abcdefgh’s father is Xyz.

Hindu gods weren’t spared either as Lord Sri Rama, son of Raja Dashrata(mentioned in the form) had himself applied to be a primary teacher.

But, the most bizarre part of the whole process was that each one of the above persons received registration numbers and letters to appear in the counseling session by the UP Basic Education Department. These letters were sent to their fake addresses.

Actually, names didn’t matter that much. What mattered here were their academic records, which showed cent percent results in graduate degree exams of these applicants. All of the records, if they had been real, could have landed anybody any job in any part of the world.

The state’s Basic Education Minister Waseem Ahmed claimed that as computer-managed application process was new in the state, it would take time to get used to it. He, nevertheless, said that errors would be sorted out.

"This system of receiving online applications and sorting it out by software was meant for observing complete transparency. Maybe there are some problems but they will be sorted out in coming days," he said.

Ludicrousness is fine, but after a certain point it turns into pity.