Teachers of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan seek change in transfer policy guidelines

Hyderabad: Dissatisfied with the Centre’s latest policy on transfers, teachers of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) have sought changes in the guidelines. To voice their concern, the teachers in the city staged a protest on the school premises sporting black badges.

The protesters pointed out that over the last five years KVS headquarters in New Delhi issued four transfer guidelines, once each in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

They said ‘it is very surprising that almost every year they changed the transfer process; due to the vacillating policy, KVS teachers suffer a lot. In two Telugu States around 50 percent of teacher posts are vacant. Without filling the vacant posts they have started the transfer process’.

According to teachers, the main loophole in the recent transfer policy is that there is no scope for any ‘on request’ or ‘intra-station transfer’. Also, the possibility of a mutual transfer, if two teachers are willing, has been removed.

Chandrasekhar Reddy, All-India State president of KVS, said, “without disturbing the daily classes, we have staged a silent protest and will be continuing also on July 19. If we don’t get any clarification from headquarters we plan to stage a huge protest.

He said the transfer of teachers posted in NER and at hard stations should be given top priority. In the transfer policy there is no scope for “on request /intra- station transfer; before there was scope. Presently there are no such facilities. In the transfer policy 2023, there is a possibility of displacement of teachers coming under LTR (less than three years to retire). At any cost teachers coming under LTR should not be displaced.

Similarly, PWD teachers/NTS are also proposed to be exempted from displacement.”

On condition of anonymity, a teacher of KV, said, “ the new policy is completely not correct; has many loopholes. The transfer policy-2023 stresses on compulsory displacement after a stay of 10 years at a station( that means at a particular school). This is also acceptable; they should be allowed to stay at the station and should not be displaced forcefully.’

‘In the definitions of the transfer policy-2023 the ‘station’ is defined ‘ as a town /city/ metropolis as notified by KVS with a unique code. This is an injustice to the spouse/employees working at a considerable distance and staying together. It will be better if the Centre reframes the transfer policy. If we don’t get any clarity we plan to file a petition in court.”