Awarded teachers may get to choose place of transfer

Award-winning teachers from government schools might soon get to choose the schools where they want to go during transfers.

The Department of Primary and Secondary Education is thinking of introducing the initiative as a token of appreciation for those who receive Best Teacher award from the next academic year.

Sources from the department told DH, “This has been discussed in the recent
review meeting of the department where Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar proposed the idea.”

The minister proposed the idea to encourage teachers to claim the awards and also to increase the number of teaching awards at the state level, to improve the quality of education.

“If we increase the number of awards, teachers will definitely strive to claim the same by putting efforts in classrooms. This will result in an increase in the quality of education at government schools because the performance of students is also one of the criteria during selection for awards,” sources said.

However, officials of the department have cautioned that the proposal may lead to lobbying at the local level.

“As the scrutiny of applications for awards starts at a local level, if we link transfers with awards, definitely it will lead to lobbying,” said an official.

Selection process

The selection process for the award starts at the taluk level, where the list of eligible applicants for the awards will be sent to the district education officer. Next, the authorities at the Zilla Panchayat scrutinise the applications and send them to the Department of State Education, Research and Training (DSERT). The DSERT will forward the final list to the state committee constituted to select teachers for the awards.

The department gives 11 awards at the high school level and 24 at the primary school level. The idea is to double the number for the coming academic year.