PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has banned the transfer of teachers from one district to another.

“The district cadre positions shall be non-transferable as it (such transfers) defeats the entire purpose of merit,” declared the ‘Posting Transfer Policy of Education Officers at District Level’, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

A senior official of the education department said the district cadre teachers included class teachers, primary school teachers, Arabic teachers, theology teachers and drawing teachers.

Secy insists move to check political, bureaucratic interference in transfers

He said residents of the provincial capital were the main victim of the inter-district transfer of such teachers.

The official said after appointment in their respective districts, such teachers managed to get themselves transferred to Peshawar using political influence, so the positions meant for Peshawarites were occupied by non-locals.

He said under the new policy, the teachers’ transfer would be made once annually and that, too, at the start of the academic year and against vacant positions only.

The official said the teachers’ performance would also be evaluated after application was submitted for transfer in the same district.

He said the teachers’ evaluation, their own and students’ attendance, student-teacher ratio in classroom, tenure at hard area, results of monthly tests of students, and annual exam results would be considered.

The official said a total of 10 marks were fixed for the teacher’s attendance.

“The teachers with 95 per cent attendance and above will get 10 marks, while it will decease with lower attendance. Similarly, if a teacher’s students show 90 per cent attendance or above, he or she will get 10 marks, which will reduce if the students’ attendance goes down,” he said.

The official said the student-teacher rate would be considered for the purpose of posting to proposed schools under the new policy.

He said under the policy, if student-teacher ratio at the primary level was higher in the existing schools, transfers won’t be considered and that no marks would be given to teachers but if the rate was low, then the transfers would be considered and 10 marks would be awarded to teachers.

The official said importance had been given in the new policy to the service of teachers in hard areas as 10 marks would be given away for five years tenure in such areas, seven for three years and four for a normal tenure.

He added that one mark per monthly test would be awarded to teachers and 10 for nine monthly tests or above and the school’s headmaster would issue certificate for the purpose.

The official said the annual exam result percentage would be considered in the transfer of teachers as 10 marks would be distributed on the basis of the percentage of results of matriculation or intermediate examinations.

He said the transfer on medical grounds would be considered only for chronic diseases, while mutual transfer would be considered on the basis of annual result of matriculation and intermediate examinations and would be certified by the district education officers concerned.

When contacted, E&SE secretary Arshad Khan said the new policy would end political and bureaucratic interference in the inter-district transfer of teachers.

“The education department will upload an electronic form on its official website for teachers to fill it,” he said, adding there will be electronic evaluation of the teachers with every stage having certain marks.

The secretary also said the transfer process would be carried out once a year at the start of the academic year in April.

President of the teachers association Samiullah Khalil appreciated the education department for declaring the district cadre positions non-transferable but said usually, policies were not implemented in letter and spirit.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2019