Prodded by high court, Bengal govt reworks transfer policy of school teachers

Notification issues 7-point announcement prioritising allocations in schools with poor pupil-teacher ratio

Sougata Mukhopadhyay   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   10.02.23  : Complying with a Calcutta High Court advisory, the Bengal government on Friday issued a new set of guidelines to rationalize transfer of teachers in schools.

The guidelines were formulated in the wake of certain stern observations made earlier by Justice Biswajit Basu during the course of a hearing on the alleged infrastructure collapse in state-run schools. The judge had expressed his angst over the existing transfer policy of teachers which, he felt, led to a skewed student-teacher ratio in schools.

Interestingly, the date of the guideline notice coincided with the day the high court scrapped the employment of 1,911 group D school employees in connection with the alleged recruitment scam in Bengal.

“As per state policy, the state is bound to maintain the required number of subject/group teachers in terms of Govt. order regarding bare minimum staff pattern to be maintained in secondary schools for ensuring the right of children to get education in schools,” the “Background” to the circular on “Policy for rationalization of teachers in recognized non-government aided/sponsored secondary schools in the state” read.

The notification, issued by the state school education department, comprised a seven-point policy announcement with a  focus on  setting correct the current disproportionate PTR (pupil-teacher ratio) in schools by scrapping the exiting transfer policy of teachers (based on mutual consent of teachers seeking transfer and general transfer of teachers based on their applications) and replacing it by a policy of prioritizing teachers’ allocations in schools which are the worst sufferers of a skewed PTR.

The state should transfer teachers from schools which have a nominal number of students to those where schools have large numbers of students with insufficient teachers, Justice Basu had observed. "How can the government run the school education system if it keeps complying with transfer requests from teachers to schools which are closer to their homes," he asked.

The judge had advised the government to consider terminating services of teachers and non-teaching staff who refuse to accept transfers from an empty school to the ones where they are needed more. He also advised the government to think of shutting down schools which lack infrastructure and students and relocating its teachers and staff to schools which are struggling to cope with their lack of necessary resources.

“To start reallocation, in first priority, schools suffering most adversely for want of subject/group teachers in ratio of students may be taken care of with the schools having the most number of excessive subject teachers in ratio of students,” the first clause of the guideline stated.

“New entrants in service may be ordered to serve the less teacher/adverse PTR schools in priority. Teachers appointed in the Physical Disability category, teachers who are going to retire in two years, female teachers having children to take care of  will remain in last priority for the purpose of reallocation,” the second clause read.

While the notice emphasized on the need to maintain synergy on the transferred teacher and the medium of instruction in the school where he or she would be reallocated, the circular stated that “male teachers cannot be placed in girls’ schools”.

Keeping the current situation of state’s schools in mind, the department stated that it has decided to take certain “long-term measures to protect schools from becoming teacher-less”. While the department would conduct frequent drills of shifting teachers from schools with less student enrollment to those with teacher deficit, it would not entertain applications for transfer of teachers from schools with adverse student-teacher ratio, the circular clarified.