The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has made major amendments to the rules for transferring and posting government primary-school teachers. Scrapping the disputed provision for including “notable persons,” it has added education enthusiasts, changed the composition of the national committee, and attached seven new conditions to teacher transfers. Earlier, on 21 June, the introduction of new transfer rules through a four-tier committee under the traditional method had drawn sharp criticism and anger from parts of the education administration and teachers; the ministry has finally revised the policy in the face of that criticism.
The criticism arose because it was not clear who the “notable persons” were meant to be, raising fears that including outsiders in an administrative process like teacher transfers could increase scope for lobbying and influence rather than transparency. Last month, provisions were made for two “notable persons” nominated by the chair in the divisional, district and upazila transfer committees, though no such members were kept on the national-level committee. After discussion and criticism, the ministry changed the policy last Thursday, a ministry official confirmed.
The revised policy keeps transfer applications being reviewed and settled through the same four-tier committees — upazila, district, divisional and national — but replaces the two chair-nominated “notable persons” on the upazila, district and divisional committees with education enthusiasts. The divisional committee will be chaired by the divisional commissioner, the district committee by the deputy commissioner (DC), and the upazila or thana committee by the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO). The national committee’s chair has also changed: under the new decision it will be headed by the director general of the Directorate of Primary Education, with the ministry’s joint secretary (schools) as a member and the directorate’s director (policy and operations) as member secretary; last month’s policy had made the primary and mass education secretary the national committee’s chair.
Seven conditions have been added to transfers. First, no assistant teacher will be eligible for transfer without at least two years of service, and no teacher will be considered for re-transfer until three years have passed since a transfer. Second, transfers can only be made against a vacant post at the relevant school. Third, no teacher may be transferred from their own school to another without their application, though transfers may be made in the public interest or for administrative reasons subject to national-committee approval. Fourth, no transfer may be made from schools with five or fewer teachers or where the teacher-student ratio exceeds 1:40. Fifth, where multiple teachers from the same school apply, senior teachers will get priority in order. Sixth, at most three teachers may be given “attachment” posting to one school. Seventh, subject to meeting all conditions, female teachers will get priority for transfer to a school near their permanent address or their husband’s address.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report