Govt revises primary school teacher transfer policy after criticism

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has introduced major changes to the new system for the transfer and posting of teachers at government primary schools.

Amid strong criticism from various quarters, the provision for including vaguely defined “prominent persons” in transfer and posting committees has finally been dropped.

Instead, the committees will now include two education-minded or education-loving persons at the local level. Changes have also been made to the leadership of the national committee, while seven new conditions have been added to make the teacher transfer process more specific.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education issued the amended policy on Thursday (16 July), a ministry official confirmed.

On 21 June, a new system was introduced with four-tier committees at the upazila, district, divisional and national levels for the transfer and posting of government primary school teachers.

However, the decision to restore the traditional manual system instead of the online process and include two “prominent persons” nominated by the committee chair at the upazila, district and divisional levels sparked widespread dissatisfaction and criticism among education administrators and teacher organisations.

The policy did not clearly define who would be considered “prominent persons”. Many feared that involving outsiders or political figures in what should be a purely administrative process for transferring government teachers could undermine transparency and create opportunities for lobbying and unethical influence.

In the face of such criticism, the ministry took the initiative to amend the policy.

Under the amended policy, the four-tier committee structure remains unchanged. However, two education-minded or education-loving persons will now be included in local-level committees instead of “prominent persons”.

According to the policy, the upazila or thana committee will be chaired by the concerned Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), the district committee by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and the divisional committee by the Divisional Commissioner.

The national committee has also undergone major changes. Under the previous policy, the secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education was made its chairperson. Under the new decision, the director general of the Directorate of Primary Education will chair the national committee.

The joint secretary (schools) of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will serve as a member, while the director (policy and operations) of the Directorate of Primary Education will serve as the member-secretary.

7 new conditions added to teacher transfers

The previous policy did not clearly specify the transfer process and eligibility criteria. Seven specific conditions have been added to the amended policy to restore discipline and transparency.

An assistant teacher will not be eligible for transfer before completing at least two years in the job. Moreover, a teacher will not be considered for another transfer until three years have passed since their previous transfer.

A teacher may be transferred to a school only against an existing vacancy. No teacher may be transferred from their current school to another school without their own application. However, this may be done in the public interest or for special administrative reasons with the approval of the national committee.

No teacher may be transferred from a school where five or fewer teachers are working or where the teacher-student ratio exceeds 1:40.

If more than one teacher from the same school applies for transfer, senior teachers will receive priority.

A maximum of three teachers may be posted to a school on attachment.

Subject to fulfilling all conditions, female teachers will receive special priority for transfers to schools near their permanent address or their husband's address.

Under the amended policy, the committees will hold meetings at least once a month to scrutinise and dispose of transfer applications.

For transfers within the same upazila, district or division, orders will be issued with the approval of the relevant committee, while transfers between divisions and transfers involving city corporations will be settled by the national committee.

The district committee will retain responsibility for posting newly recruited teachers through a lottery.