Sources said of late, numerous complaints have been lodged against the double-shift government school in Sector 49, where teachers, a majority of whom live nearby, tend to go home for breaks midway during school hours (Represenatational Image)
IN THE absence of proper implementation of a transfer policy in the UT Education Department, a majority of teachers posted in rural schools do not get the chance to teach in city schools. The UT Cadre Educational Employees’ Union met recently and discussed the issue of transfer policy of principals, heads, Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) and Junior Basic Teachers (JBT). The teachers claimed that the department followed a “pick and choose” policy in transferring teachers who had connections. This way, many teachers also got their choice of posting closer home.
Sources said of late, numerous complaints have been lodged against the double-shift government school in Sector 49, where teachers, a majority of whom live nearby, tend to go home for breaks midway during school hours.
As there is no proper policy for transfer of teaching or administrative posts in the Education Department, the teaching community has been suffering a lot. Teachers posted in rural schools have long awaited their transfers to city schools while those at city schools may not be willing to be transferred to distant places.
Teachers further said that due to this practice, students in rural schools suffered the most and teachers did not get the exposure to various backgrounds that students belonged to.
Sewa Singh, games teacher at Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 38 West, said, “I’ve been posted here since 1997 and have been requesting the department to send me to GMSSS-Sector 37 for the past five years now. I handle NCC and physical education. Both departments refuse to transfer me even though the teacher at GMSSS-37 is on contract.”
Sewa added that half the periphery and rural schools do not even have a favourable teacher-student ratio. With a strength of 400 to 500 students in several schools, many of them did not even have proper principals and school heads. He further stated that the department wanted good results, but it did not realise that teachers in rural schools have to battle numerous odds.
Another teacher, who did not want to be named, said, “Students in urban schools get private tuition and the teachers don’t have to work too much on them to get good results. But no one cares about the rural students. We are already overburdened with academic and administrative duties and are also expected to produce good results.”
The teachers challenged those posted in city schools to come and teach in rural schools and produce good results. “We have demanded that principals and school heads should be transferred within five years and TGTs and JBTs within seven years by reshuffling or transferring staff between urban and rural schools to provide exposure and quality education,” said Swarn Singh Kamboj, President, UT Cadre Educational Employees’ Union.
The union has also demanded an inquiry into why heads or principals, posted at the same school for up to 10-15 years, have not been transferred while the transfer policy requires them to be shuffled every five years and those on deputation every three years.
Teachers have demanded that the transfer policy should be strictly followed to avoid stagnancy and corruption. Timely transfers, they said, will also prove fruitful for teachers to share experience and views on quality education for rural students.
Education Secretary B L Sharma said, “There is a ban on transfers in the department for now. Favouritism and bias have led to some teachers getting all the benefits of a good posting while others are suffering. But this is the system which has been followed for decades.”
Sharma added that the department was planning to conduct a mass transfer in April, but could not do so due to some technical glitches. But it will soon look into transfers once again when these issues have been dealt with.