Around 300 complaints registered days after Karnataka’s school education department launched new portal

According to sources in the education department, around 70,000 visits have been recorded so far and several complaints were centered around teacher transfers and the teacher recruitment process. There were few complaints reported on infrastructure related issues, an education official added.

“Most of the complaints were registered by final year B.Ed candidates who also want to be considered for teacher posts. Many candidates have written to the minister requesting to be posted for job opportunities. Second, many fresh teachers who have been recruited this year are requesting the government not to accept the application from teachers who are seeking transfer. This is because they feel they might lose out on job opportunities if the existing teachers are transferred,” said the education official.

This comes after several teachers who have been posted in Kalyana Karnataka districts are wanting to come back to their native places after serving for over two years. In fact, during the latest Karnataka legislative session, a new teacher transfer bill was passed ‘exempting the limit prescribed for the transfer of teachers’.

The Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, exempts the limit prescribed for mutual transfers and transfers made under special categories in the Kalyana Karnataka region, Malnad region and educationally backward districts.

The Bill allows mutual transfer to a place within or outside a unit subject to the condition that both teachers have completed a minimum of five years of service in the cadre. Earlier, the mutual transfer to a place outside the unit was not permitted more than once in service, with the condition that both teachers have completed a minimum of seven years of service. The Bill also prioritizes transfer requests by teachers having spouses working with the state or central government or aided educational institutions.

A senior education official said, “The complaints will be directed to respective departments who will address them appropriately. As far as the teacher transfers are concerned, the department of public instruction should take a call.”

With the help of this web portal, one can also access multiple departmental IT systems, which are used by different wings / divisions of the department. The portal also collates relevant information / data related to the school education ministry from multiple IT systems presently used in the department.