Against teacher transfer, dept keeps note of politician who endorsed it

Indian Express: Hoshiarpur: Saturday, 23 August 2014.

The general perception that a politician’s word can get work done now has official attestation. The Punjab education department has begun maintaining records mentioning politicians who recommend the transfer of government school teachers. The department has set aside a special column on official papers titled ‘special comment’, where the politician who recommended that particular transfer is mentioned along with the name and details of the teacher concerned.

The information was procured under the RTI Act, from the office of the district education officer (secondary) in Hoshiarpur by the Human Empowerment League Punjab (HELP). The list names teachers set for transfers and carries this detail mentioning names of leaders in a ‘separate column’ who recommend the transfer.   HELP general secretary Parvinder Singh Kitna, who got the information, said that he had sought information about the transfers of those teachers which had taken place on the recommendation of influential people. The list provides names of three dozen such teachers with recommendations along with their names, subject, their current station with school name and where they want to be transferred.

Punjab Jail Minister Sohan Singh Thandal’s name has appeared quite frequently in the  recommendation list provided by the Hoshiarpur DEO’s office.  Apart from him, SAD MLA Surinder Singh Bhullewal Rathan and BJP MLA Sukhjit Kaur Sahi also appeared prominently.

Others include defeated SAD-BJP leaders like former minister Tiksan Sood,  Arunesh Shakir and Ravinder Singh Rasoolpur. Other prominent names include Bibi Jagir Kaur, the SAD MLA  from Bolath, and CPS Pawan Teenu from Jalandhar.

Kitna said that it is the picture of just one district of state while it has been taking place all over state. A senior officer in the DPI officer also confirmed the same. Jail Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said the recommendations were made in good faith. “We make the recommendations as representatives of the people and whenever any person comes to us we  cannot say no to them. It is up to education department to see things as per law”.

“There should be a policy under which every teacher serves in a remote area school for at least five years. Then this problem of recommendations will be sorted,” he added.