The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Transparency in counselling for teacher transfers `missing'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 04, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Transparency in counselling for teacher transfers `missing'

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, OCT. 3. The modified counselling procedure introduced this year for granting inter and intra-district transfers has caused disappointment among Government school teachers.

Their main grouse is that "transparency" in the hitherto adopted procedure of personal counselling, followed by spot disbursal of transfer orders, which earned accolades from the teaching community for the Government so far, was "missing" this year. The teachers favoured the earlier system since it arrested the scope for "political influence."

Earlier, seniority was paramount for transfers and orders were given on the spot. But now, there are other factors governing the transfers, including health and leadership capabilities of the applicants. The Education department officials find the new system conducive in the interests of making education "equitable" in the rural and urban areas.

"Invariably, the bulk of requests for transfers to urban areas come from teachers working in schools in rural areas. Earlier, if the applicants fulfil the eligibility norms, they were given the orders as a matter of right, though it meant compromising on sacrificing the requirements of rural schools. But now, the department has the discretion to decide on transfers against the backdrop of the need for toning up the academic progress of rural schools," a senior official told The Hindu .

However, when it comes to prioritising the transfer request, the following guidelines are to be followed: a) spouse of persons employed in the Army, b) visually-impaired teachers, c) physically disabled to the extent of using tricycles or those who walk with calipers, d) those who had undergone heart surgery, kidney transplant etc., e) severely affected cancer patients, f) widows, g) spinsters above 40 years, and h) teachers working in the same station for two years or more.

Yet, the department officials are happy with the new procedure as they are able to use their discretion in transferring teachers of rural schools where the strength is usually less. The applicant's adaptability to the new situation, irrespective of his/her eligibility in accordance with the norms, is a factor to reckon with. It is in such conditions that the new system provides leverage to the department, say the officials.

"The bottom line is that the new procedure gives enough scope for politicians to influence transfers, negating the concept of counselling," says a representative of a teachers' association.

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