– Ronita Torcato 

The Maharastra government will introduce new regulations to streamline all teacher promotions and transfers before the start of the academic year, rural development minister Jayakumar Gore announced in the Legislative Assembly on July 10.

Responding to a point raised by MLA Sreejaya Chavan, the minister acknowledged that decades of overlapping government decisions have dragged the process well into October each year, disrupting the school term.

To rectify the situation, the government plans to overhaul the system by removing the hurdles currently causing delays. These include legal bottlenecks regarding the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). Because multiple TET-related cases are currently pending in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, promotions have stalled.

The process faced further setbacks this year because official batch approvals were not received until February, missing the standard September 30 deadline.

Gore said the backlog could be resolved by Zilla Parishads prioritising the promotion of teachers to adjust new staff. Once promotions are finalised, additional teachers can be reassigned to vacant posts.

It may be noted that the government resolution of May 18, 2011, authorised chief executive officers (CEOs) to reassign teachers at the district and taluka levels. Minister Gore said strict instructions will be issued to CEOs to expedite staffing adjustments.

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