Wrong teacher runs elementary school for years

A woman is said to have worked for eight years as the head of a primary school in the Czech Republic, even though she was not qualified for the job. When she was hired, she presented a fake university certificate, a police spokeswoman said on Thursday. The 59-year-old stated that she had completed her pedagogical studies at the renowned Charles University in Prague with a master's degree. In reality, she had never studied there, as the criminal police discovered during their almost two-and-a-half-year investigation.

The alleged imposter has now been charged with fraud and forgery. If convicted, she faces up to eight years in prison. The damage to property due to unjustly paid salaries runs into millions of crowns, which is the equivalent of tens of thousands of euros.

As reported by the Czech radio, parents of the elementary school in Libcice nad Vltavou near Prague had doubts about the professional qualifications of the headmistress and called in the authorities. However, the state school authority did not suspect anything. During an inspection four years ago, the inspectors instead criticized the professional qualifications of other teachers at the school as insufficient.

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