Authorities of a high madarsa in Murshidabad’s Samserganj filed a petition with the district education department claiming troubles in running academic activities ever since classes resumed on February 12.
They said 15 of its 31 teachers were transferred without intimation when classes were suspended owing to the Covid situation.
Authorities of DBS High Madarsa at Dogachi village of Samserganj have blamed the online transfer system introduced by the education department last year for the crisis as it keeps the school in the dark about those transferred.
“The problem is because online transfer does not require any no-objection certificate from the school management and the institution remains unaware,” said a school official.
The DBS High Madarsa has 3,100 students.
Headmaster of DBS High Madrasa Wasim Raja said: “On February 12 when classes resumed, I was shocked to find that 15 teachers of our institution have been transferred. Three of them had been transferred before the Covid outbreak last year and 12 later. I had no knowledge about it. Those transferred included the only political science teacher, whose absence has put the higher secondary humanity group students in a major mess. So far, only one teacher has joined as replacement. It is nearly impossible to run academic activities now.”
Last August, the state education department had eased transfer rules by introducing the online application facility for all categories of teachers.
Earlier teachers seeking transfer needed to submit an no-objection certificate from their serving institution before appearing before a committee formed to consider their appeal.
But the online application system exempted teachers from submitting NOC and the hearing was done away with.
While this helped many teachers waiting for transfers, it created a problem for schools in the dark about teachers seeking transfer.
A large section of the teaching fraternity alleged that the new transfer policy has put many schools in a major trouble. Schools in remote parts of districts such as South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore and Purulia are in deep trouble unable to manage academic activities due to random transfer of teachers without substitute.
General secretary of Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses Chandan Maiti, who is also the headmaster of Krishnachandrapur High School in Mathurapur, South 24-Parganas, alleged “lack of transparency” in the new transfer policy.
Murshidabad's district inspector of schools (secondary) Amar Kanti Sil said he was helpless.
Murshidabad district president of Trinamul’s teachers’ wing Sheikh Furkan said: “The objective of the online transfer was to bring back teachers nearer home. But transfer without proper verification is creating problems.”
President of WB Madrasa Education Board Abu Tahir Kamruddin said: “I will take up the matter with the WB Madrasa Service Commission, the recruitment and transfer authority of our teachers.”
Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri
