New Delhi: Delhi education minister Atishi on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to the education secretary and the education department after it issued abrupt transfer orders to nearly 5,000 government school teachers.
The Delhi education department had issued the orders on Tuesday, at midnight, despite Atishi’s directive to halt the transfers, the Indian Express reported.
The AAP government has sought an explanation for “disobeying” the minister’s order, citing Article 239 AA which “gives the Delhi government power to exercise over matters in the Concurrent List”.
The education department had issued a circular on June 11, asking all teachers who had completed 10 years in a particular school to apply for a transfer.
“All the teachers who have completed 10 years continuously in the same school shall compulsorily apply online… for transfer on the basis of mutual or general opting for maximum number of schools,” the circular said, adding that those who do not comply will be transferred “to any school” by the headquarters on its own.
The government school teachers association had urged the department to revoke the guideline stipulating transfer of teachers after a particular time period. Some members of the association had met Atishi on Monday and submitted a memorandum after which the minister instructed the education secretary to withdraw the order.
The association’s general secretary, Ajay Veer Yadav, has written to the education directorate and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, requesting a grievance redressal committee for all transferred teachers, the Indian Express report said.
A delegation of government school teachers, including Yadav, is expected to meet the director of education on Thursday. Yadav said factors like medical condition, disability, retirement and distance from residence should be taken into consideration.
“This decision will affect the student-teacher relationship to some extent. Besides, it will affect teachers who have illness or who are disabled,” Praveen Sharma, who has been teaching at a government school in Sultanpuri for the last 14 years, told the paper.
‘Will affect long standing student-teacher relationships’
Shailendra Sharma, former principal advisor to the education director, had slammed the department’s June 11 directive saying that it goes against the Union government’s National Education Policy (NEP) and will affect long standing student-teacher relationships.
“This type of random transfer may be necessary in the case of government clerks, but it is completely unnecessary in the teaching profession,” Sharma wrote in a post on X.
“NEP 2020 says, the harmful practice of excessive transfers will be prohibited to ensure that the relationship between the teacher and the community is built and remains connected to the community so that the students can get role models and an educational environment,” he said.
