Andhra Pradesh teachers’ transfers, promotions in online mode to ensure transparency and efficiency: official

Transition to online counselling for teacher promotions and transfers addresses inefficiency, transparency issues, and inequity in manual processes.

The transition from manual to online counselling for teacher promotions and transfers marks a major administrative reform, as the online system has addressed long-standing issues of inefficiency, lack of transparency and inequity inherent in manual processes, says Commissioner, School Education, V. Vijay Rama Raju.

In response to constant pleas by teachers’ associations for implementation of manual counselling, Mr. Rama Raju asserted that the web-based counselling has enabled rule-based, transparent and teacher-friendly transfers, proving to be a robust, scalable and legally compliant solution.

Explaining the benefits of the online mode, he said transfers and promotions are based solely on teacher service records without any human interference. He said for the first time in the State’s history, 4,851 teachers have been promoted simultaneously. Since the formation of the new coalition government in the State, the Teachers Transfer Act has been implemented after multiple consultations with teacher unions, he pointed out, informing that as per the finalised schedule from May 21 to June 10, as many as 35,235 transfers had been completed so far.

Speaking about the several advantages of this mode, he said teachers can view schools based on their distance from the mandal headquarters, allowing them to choose nearby schools, there are options to select from vacancies within clusters of 150-200 schools, the applicants can save their preferences multiple times, a video guide explains how to use the web option system and help centers have been set up at all levels to assist teachers.

On the contrary, he says there are issues with manual counselling, which does not immediately display the newly available vacancies, causing senior teachers to miss out. Only 400-500 teachers per day can participate, making it hard to complete transfers on time, women, elderly teachers and those with health issues face hardship travelling to counselling centres and overall, manual counselling is not beneficial to teachers, he emphasised.

Mr. Rama Raju pointed out that before 1998, Zilla Parishad Chairpersons handled transfers in ZP and Mandal Parishad schools, while the District Education Officers (DEOs) managed government school transfers, later all responsibilities were moved to the DEOs. In 2015, the web-based counselling system was introduced to reduce political interference and inefficiencies, and this system brought trust and transparency into the process and was continued by successive governments.

Reminding that in 2021, around 38,000 transfers were done in online mode, in 2023, around 44,000 transfers were implemented using this system, he advised teachers not to believe “rumours and misleading campaigns driven by personal agenda.” The online system is completely transparent and fair and solely based on service records, he reiterated.