Bengal plans portal for schoolteacher data The portal will have data such as the number of total teachers employed in each school and in each subject

Mita Mukherjee, TT, 16.10.19, Calcutta: A web portal with details of state-aided schoolteachers, their name, age, address, educational qualification, date of joining and retirement will be launched soon.

The portal will also have data such as the number of total teachers employed in each school and in each subject. The portal will be designed in a manner that it will get updated automatically whenever a teacher retires or resigns.

The updated figures will be used to monitor the vacancy positions in every school in a centralised manner, streamline teacher recruitment process and implement transfers in an effective manner, a senior official of the school education department said.

According to the official: “Say there are three English teachers in a particular school. The proposed portal will show the same number of teachers against that school in that subject. The day one of the three English teachers turns 60, or any of them quits the job, the figure will get automatically updated to two.”

Under the existing system there is no mechanism that can enable the school education department to know the subject-wise vacancy positions in a school immediately after a teacher retires or resigns.

When a teaching post falls vacant at any school, the existing system requires the institution to inform the school education department about the vacancy and seek permission for filling the post. The department will often not know about a vacancy until the school sends the information.

After getting the department’s permission, the school is required to send a requisition to the department. The requisition is then forwarded to the state school service commission that conducts the recruitment of teachers. It takes about six to seven months to complete this process, the official said. “This delay can be avoided once the new portal is launched,” the official said.

The portal will be also used to prevent appointment of new teachers in subjects that doesn’t require one.

A violence had erupted in a school in North Dinajpur’s Islampur last year when students had blocked two new teachers from joining claiming that their postings were “faulty and against requirements”. The protest had triggered a clash that had led to the death of 19-year-old Rajesh Sarkar, who was a student at an Industrial Training Institute. He had joined the students, along with other local residents, in the protest.

There was an allegation that this school had sought teachers to teach Urdu and Sanskrit, which was not required. The online system of management of data will be used to simplify the teacher transfer process, as well.

Teachers seeking transfers from one school to one in a convenient location would often complain about their head of the institution not willing to allow them to seek transfer. The heads would reject the appeals for transfer citing shortage of teachers. If a teacher wants a transfer, she or he would first have to take a no-objection note from the head of the institution.

“Once the new portal becomes functional, the state government can take the decision on whether a transfer would be granted or not by directly verifying the teacher position of the school immediately after receiving an application,” the official said.

The heads of all state-aided schools were recently directed by the school education department to start uploading the data regarding the teachers.

A training to teach headmasters the procedures of uploading the data was held in Calcutta on Thursday.