Teachers await transfers, condemn govt for playing with sentiments

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 30

The 2,392 teachers whose probation period ends before September are disappointed because, despite having been in service for approximately three years, they are not being transferred to their home districts.

According to Yudhjit Singh, president of Bathinda Teachers’ Association, many of the 2,392 teachers met the Education Department’s transfer criteria by August 25. However, the portal was closed just hours before the deadline, preventing them from applying for transfers. “It was a deliberate attempt to sideline us,” he added.

Harpreet Singh, a teacher from Khanna, said he was transferred to Tarn Tarn three years ago but has yet to secure a transfer to his home district. “We should have also been considered because it has been over three years and we are working far from our hometowns. We should be transferred to a more convenient location,” Singh said. Some 80 teachers from Ludhiana were eager to return to their hometowns.

Vishav Bhanu Sharma, vice-president of the association, said teachers from all other districts were sent to border areas such as Amritsar, Ferozpur, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur, which were far from their home districts, but their transfer cases were not considered by the department.