Representational imageKottayam: Evident maladministration coupled with alleged corruption and cronyism in Kerala Education Department has taken its toll on a huge section of the students of government-run higher secondary schools in the state.
The unprecedented anomalies in the general transfer of higher secondary teachers, a process started as early as last September and yet to be sorted out, have put the students, at whom their public examinations are staring, at the receiving end.
The transfer process, termed as Tughlaq reforms by Opposition legislator and former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, had aroused dicey situations in many schools. While in some schools, more than one teacher came to occupy the same post, in several other schools nobody came to fill the vacant posts. Apparently in a first, a teacher from a government school was transferred to a church-run aided school in Kottayam, to the shock of the teacher and the private management.
The anomalies which angered the teachers community led to a legal fight between those who claimed to be victims of the "unscientific and nontransparent" process and the authorities concerned. The dissenters moved the Kerala Administrative Tribunal which in turn constituted a panel to look into the issues. The tribunal later ordered to issue transfer on the basis of the panel's report. The higher secondary directorate kept issuing circulars after circulars putting teachers and students alike in more trouble.
Though Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb had promised to keep the matter aside until the end of the ongoing academic year so that exams and studies of the students are not affected, the issue popped up again on Wednesday with the directorate issuing a circular asking the 970 teachers who were transferred in September to return to their previous schools and to get themselves relieved from there again on March 28 after the HSS exams. After a section of affected teachers protested, another circular was issued saying those with practical difficulties were supposed to go to the previous schools only for examination duties.
Comparing the Education Department to a 'banana republic', Thomas Isaac said the "nonsensical procedures were being repeated due to the authorities' acts aiming commercial gains. In a Facebook post on Wednesday Isaac asked who would be responsible for the apprehensions of the students, parents and teachers when the exams are round the corner.
According to a spokesperson for the All Kerala School Teachers' Union (AKSTU), the nontransparent transfer process severely dented the image of the higher secondary sector which was a finest example of efficiency in Kerala's education model.
N. Sreekumar of the AKSTU said corruption, cronyism and clout which flouted all norms were the reasons behind the irreparable issues in the transfer process. He said norms regarding the eligibility of a teacher to be transferred to her home district was not followed while issuing the transfer order in September.
As per rules, in normal case, only a teacher who worked outside home district for five years should apply for transfer to home district. But teachers with less than three years of service were also awarded transfer denying chance to the deserving candidates. While rules stipulated that transfer based on compassionate grounds should not exceed 10 per cent, such cases went up to 100 per cent this time, Sreekumar told Onmanorama.
He said norms for transfer of couples working as HS teachers in different schools to the same place was misused. Besides, the relaxation accorded to couples of inter-caste marriages were also not properly followed, he added.
Meanwhile, a section of teachers believe it would not be fair to blame the authorities alone for the present crisis. The teachers who did not find any issue with flouting rules and were even willing to pay bribe to the officials for their transfer should also be held equally responsible for the imbroglio, a male teacher from Kottayam who did not wish to be named said. He has become virtually jobless with another teacher coming to his post even as he was not transferred to another school. He believes the authorities concerned were waiting for many like him to approach them with bribe to get their problems solved.
The transfer process has never caused such a loss of academic hours for students and mental stress for teachers in the past three decades since the transformation of pre-university model to higher secondary schools. Teachers are often forced to believe that it is part of the government procedure. A student's academic loss could be compensated quantitatively by liberal valuation or other similar measures. However, it would be a tough task for students to fill the qualitative gaps caused by the authorities' callous attitude. Unfortunately, many of them belong to the lower strata of the society whose only hope for education is in public institutions.
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