Teachers’ transfers Office swamped with transfer applications

RAWALPINDI:

Hundreds of school teachers approached the Executive District Office (EDO) Education after the provincial education department lifted ban on transfers on June 1.

“As many as 60 applications for transfers and appointments at desired schools were received on the first of this month, after the government removed the ban on the transfers,” said an official of the EDO office.

Hundreds of applications are already pending with the office, as no transfers have been made for the past six months after the education department imposed ban on the transfers of teachers, to secure academic activities towards the end of the academic session, the officer said.

Discussions with different teachers revealed that majority of teachers demanding for transfers have been serving in far-flung areas, away from their families and commuting long distances to reach their schools. Under the existing policy for transfers, the teachers are to be posted in the schools relatively nearer to their residences, especially female teachers. They will not be posted in schools outside their home departments, said Nighat Bibi, a primary school teacher.

According to the data available with The Express Tribune, there are more 350 higher and elementary schools in the district and over 3,000 teachers are employed by the education department.

Every year, the education department has to deal with the process of posting and transfer, as majority of the teachers are not ready to serve in remote areas and prefer teaching in urban areas. In order to ensure the availability of teachers in rural area schools, the education department has been appointing teachers near their home stations.

When contacted, EDO Education Qazi Zahoorul Haq said the government only lifted the ban for one day, before imposing it again. The applications for transfers would be considered on the prescribed performa issued by the education department, he said, adding that the department had proposed some amendments in the document to assess the nature of the transfer applications.

The education officer confirmed that his office had received considerable number of applications for transfer. Haq said most of the applicants had served less than six months at their existing postings and if the government changed the policy so that every teacher has to serve in a school for at least one year, most of the problems would be solved.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.