1,000 govt teachers transferred at one go

Kolkata: The issue of transfer orders to over 1,000 teachers at one go has left government schools flustered. While it isn't unusual for transfer orders to be issued to around 100 teachers in a day, the quantum jump in the number of orders follows a gap of around 20 days in issuing orders due to the change in signing authority in the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).All the transferred teachers have been asked to join the new place of duty within five working days.
The process of issuing transfer orders has been stalled for about two weeks in the wake of serious allegations against the commission on teacher appointment and scanner on WBBSE president Kalyanmoy Ganguly, who was among several officials named by a former high court judge in a probe report. It was only after board secretary Subrata Ghosh took charge as the signing authority that the orders were finally issued. Incidentally, teacher transfers were regularised in August 2021 through an online system.
According to officials, the change in the signing authority that took around 20 days to come into effect was done to avoid another controversy after Ganguly's name cropped up in the teacher recruitment issue. Since 2018, transfers have been signed by the president.
Ganguly said he had simply handed the charge back to the secretary after the post was filled following a long gap. “The post of secretary was vacant for the last few years. That is why I was signing the orders. A new secretary has joined and he will be the signing authority. It is a normal process and I don’t think it has created much problem for teachers,” he said.
However, others pointed out that Ghosh had joined as secretary nearly a year ago but had become the signing authority only now. The Advanced Society for Headmasters & Headmistresses has claimed that teachers were facing trouble. “The board has created a chaotic situation during the vacation. So we are appealing to the government to look into the matter,” said society general secretary Chandan Maity.