BHUBANESWAR: The state government has officially allowed MPs and MLAs to recommend up to 15 cases of transfer of teachers including both elementary and secondary schools in their area during the current educational year.
The MPs and MLAs will have to submit this recommendation to the district collectors from May 15 to June 15. The recommendations will be disposed of by the district level transfer committee (DLTC), a letter written by Girish Chandra Singh, joint secretary in the School and Mass Education department, to director of Secondary Education and director of Elementary Education said.
Some of the MLAs to which this newspaper reached out confirmed that they have been informed about the decision by the SME department. The letter stated that the recommendation of transfer of teachers should not violate the principle of rationalisation and priority should be given to those with genuine and urgent need.
Stating that no teacher can be transferred from the rural to urban areas, the letter said the recommendation will be applicable to intra-district transfer only. In case, the parliamentary constituency covers more than one district, the proposals should be submitted to the nodal collector with intimation to the counterpart.
Rajya Sabha MPs will submit the recommendation to director of Secondary Education with intimation to director of Elementary Education. This whole exercise, however, is a one-time measure, the letter clarified.
Former minister and senior BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said during the previous government’s tenure the MLAs were allowed to recommend transfers of three to five teachers. But there was never any official communication seeking recommendations from the MPs and MLAs.
Another BJD MLA Ganeswar Behera, said Opposition MLAs will not benefit as their recommendations are never implemented.