KOCHI: The suspicion that only the powerful and the connected can survive in government departments is being proved true in the case of around 80 per cent of the 2,000 higher secondary school teachers who have been denied transfers to their home stations for the past two years.
They had even filed a petition with the Kerala Administration Tribunal (KAT) last month seeking a solution to their plight. "We didn't receive any favourable response. All that KAT decided was to post the hearing to February 2022. The reason? The government needs more time to effect the general transfer in the Higher Secondary School Teacher (HSST) and HSST (junior) categories, and that it will consider the issue at the time of general transfer," said an HSS teacher.
The issues related to the HSST section are many, he pointed out. "But no one is brave enough to come forward fearing repercussions," said the teacher who himself did not want to be named. According to a lady teacher, usually, the transfers happen every year.
"However, for the past two years and three months, there has been no movement, especially in the HSS section. This has put many teachers in a tough spot," the teacher said.