Transfers leave some schools without teachers

GURGAON: The mass transfer of junior basic teachers (JBT) by the Haryana government has done more harm than good to the state-run schools in the city.
The transfers, ordered by additional chief secretary (school education) PK Das, have not only affected 27,103 teachers, but left some of the schools in Gurgaon with no teachers, some with insufficient teaching staff and others with more than required.
Sources told TOI on Monday that more than 10 government schools in the city have been affected badly. At the Government Primary School in Silokhera in Sector 31, all the seven teachers have been transferred. If the transferred teachers are relieved within seven days as supposed, the head mistress will be left alone to handle 300 students.
“There is a lot of confusion regarding the future course of action among the teachers and the teaching heads on whether they should join as per the transfer orders or not. It would leave some of the schools with almost no teaching staff,” said one of the school heads, on condition of anonymity.
At the Government School in Wazirabad, five teaching slots are now vacant, post transfers. At the same time, 10 teachers have been appointed to the Government Senior Secondary School in Chakkarpur instead of the sanctioned posts of seven. And in Government School, Saini Khera, five male teachers have been appointed, which is against the state’s recently launched transfer policy that mandates female teachers in all schools.
“There are a lot of loopholes in the recently conducted JBT transfers, which has resulted in a mismatch in the number of teachers required and appointment,” said Satyanarayan Yadav, state secretary of Haryana School Teachers’ Association. “Unless these issues are addressed at the earliest, they are likely to affect the students,” he added.
However, when contacted, district elementary education officer Ram Kumar Phalaswal said, “We have called a meeting of the block education officers on Tuesday morning and we will ensure that no school is left without teachers.”