Transfer, promotion counselling for govt, aided teachers to begin Monday

CHENNAI: After postponing the general counselling for transfers and promotions for teachers, the School Education Department is set to start the counselling Monday till May 26th.

Teachers were allowed to register for the counselling from April 27 till May 1, right after which the counselling was set to begin on May 8. However, it was later postponed to May 15.

Interestingly, for this year, the department has removed the mandatory condition of serving at a school for a year prior to applying for transfer and promotion.

But what caught into the controversy was that the notification had no mention of promotion for Bachelor for Training (BT) assistants in elementary education and secondary-grade teachers.

This led to the speculation if it is due to a pending case at the Madras High Court insisting Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for promotion. Subsequently, the teachers had written a letter to the director of elementary education asking for clarification.

A member of Tamil Nadu Primary Teachers' Federation said, "Eligible SGTs should be rightfully promoted to BTs for filling the vacancies at the respective schools. If not, SGTs will miss out on the opportunity."

Meanwhile, the members also urged to conduct the counselling within the education blocks of the district without any delays and mismanagement unlike last year.

"Due to technical glitches last year, the counselling was held till midnight, causing trouble to teachers. Hence, all this should be averted this time," the letter stated.

And, teachers with 40 percent or more disability will be allowed to continue in the same station. Thereby, the immediate next junior teacher in the cadre/specific subject will be deployed, the notification added.