Teachers to pay for poor result with transfer

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 28

Toughening its stand on the dismal results in around 150 government senior secondary and high schools across the state, the Cabinet has decided to punish erring teachers by ordering their mass transfer if the pass percentage is below 25.

A report prepared by the Education Department on such schools was placed before the Cabinet during a meeting held here on Friday.

The report contained a list of 102 high schools and 24 senior secondary schools where the pass percentage was below 20.

Taking serious note of the poor results, it was decided that all teachers in schools where the pass percentage was below 25 would be transferred.

The decision was perceived as punishment for teachers who could not give good results. The Chief Minister is learnt to have taken serious view of poor results. “Being the Education Minister as well, Virbhadra Singh made it clear to his Cabinet colleagues that the transfer of any teacher in this category would not be cancelled and he should not be approached by anyone,” said a source.

Shimla district tops the list of high and senior secondary schools with poor pass percentage. There are 23 high schools and 12 senior secondary schools in Shimla district with a pass percentage of below 20.

Sirmaur district comes second as far as poor results are concerned as there are 23 such high schools and four senior secondary schools. The number of such high schools in Chamba district is 10.

Incidentally, the districts of Shimla, Sirmaur and Chamba have schools in interior areas which are understaffed. There have been instances of irate villagers locking the school premises as teachers posted here get their transfers cancelled.

It is a common phenomenon that schools in urban areas and in the periphery of towns are overstaffed while students enrolled in schools in rural areas suffer.

The Chief Minister has been advocating reintroduction of board examinations at the primary (Class V) and middle (Class VIII) levels so that the standard of education can be improved and all students are not promoted to the next class if their knowledge levels are not up to the mark.