Page 30 - EW April 2023

Expert Comment

Transfer sword over

government school teachers

KRISHNA KUMAR

NTERING THE FOYER OF A RURAL GOVERN- The solution to this old, entrenched
MENT school, I noticed a list painted on the wall. It
displayed the names of eight teachers. Their quali- problem is in school-based recruitment.
Efications, dates of joining, subjects and classes they Private schools enjoy this freedom. Why
taught were all mentioned. It was an impressive display of
staff strength for a rural government school. While I was can’t it work for government schools?
studying the list, the Headmaster came by and I asked him The reasons are many...
if all the eight teachers were present. I had heard about the
problem of teacher absenteeism across Hindi belt states.
What he told me was quite different and from the point of The solution to this old, entrenched problem is in school-
view of children, far worse than absenteeism. based recruitment. Private schools enjoy this freedom. Why
He revealed that six of the eight teachers mentioned can’t it work for government schools? The reasons are
in the list had been transferred in September. Six months many, and they are all rooted in the inertia of custom and
later, their posts are still vacant. “We have been waiting, the mindset that sustains it. In colonial times, no govern-
that’s why the list has not been repainted,” he said. The ment employee was trusted to remain dedicated to his job
village Panchayat had also written several times to the dis- if he stayed too long in one place. Transfer was the means
trict education officer, asking for the vacancies to be filled, to keep everyone on his toes. This centralised command
but there was no response. I asked the Headmaster how system continues to invest power in bureaucrats and poli-
he manages the school with so many vacancies. He said he ticians, and they enjoy it. A few states tried to reform the
invites young unemployed men in the village to take classes. transfer system, by creating a rational set of rules. It helped
This state of affairs is not only common, but widely ac- a little and worked for some time, but the deeper ramifi-
cepted as a necessary feature of education governance. The cations of centralised control on teachers’ lives remained
logic is that teachers are recruited by state governments, so intact.
they have to be allocated to schools by state governments nder Panchayati Raj provisions, centralised recruit-
according to existing needs. The match between needs and Ument has shifted in some states to lower levels. This
number of teachers available is usually disproportionate. change has eased some of the older problems, but it has also
Moreover once they are recruited, teachers want to serve brought in new problems related to quality of entrants into
in schools close to their homes. Pressures to seek conve- the profession. The catchment area under the local recruit-
nient postings arise and mostly lead to corruption among ment policy shrinks. It is not like countries where anyone
those invested with the responsibility and power to relocate can apply for a state school job advertisement. Also, the
teachers. These are district-level officers and their counter- Panchayat’s control is not benign in every case. The teacher
parts at the state level. Politicians play a key role in manag- needs to be a good handler of political pressure to keep
ing the pressure dynamics — say, between rival claimants the Panchayat happy. It’s not enough to be merely a good,
to one available post. sincere teacher.
When transfer orders are given, no one thinks about the Let me conclude by going back to the account of my visit
children. I remember a group of class X children in a Hary- to a rural school in Madhya Pradesh. As I walked around
ana school, desperately asking me for help. What could I the village, I noticed little signboards advertising coach-
do? Their mathematics teacher had been transferred ahead ing classes. I stopped at one of them and met the young
of their board exams. As usual, no substitute was sent. The man who runs a coaching centre. He showed me the nar-
principal was helpless and nervous about exam results. row room where some 40 children of different ages receive
Every government school has similar stories. And then private tuition in different subjects. As one might expect,
you have individual tales of ‘punishment posting’ for poor the two most popular subjects for coaching — for three to
results. What it takes for a teacher or principal to look for a 14-year olds — are English and mathematics. The coaching
home in a new village or district is something the powerful this tutor offers is based on cheap guide books available
bureaucracy ignores completely. The last time a committee at his own shop. It is hard to say whether the facility he
was appointed to look into housing problems confronting runs reflects parental anxiety about the quality of teaching
rural teachers was in the late 1950s. Lucky teachers are in government schools where the children are enrolled, or
those who serve in a Central government-promoted Kend- merely the urge to keep children occupied. The young man
riya Vidyalaya or Navodaya Vidyalaya schools which pro- also helps the children with their homework.
vide on-campus housing. This privileged category of schools
provides teachers a life altogether different from that of the
common government school teacher. The transfer sword (Dr. Krishna Kumar is honorary professor of education, Panjab University,
hangs over their heads all the time. and a former Director of NCERT)

30 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2023