Rationalisation policy: Punjab teachers to be posted across schools, no question of ‘category’

The policy makes it mandatory for school principals to take classes too (12 periods per week for principals and 15 periods per week for head teachers).
Chandigarh : To overcome shortage of teachers in senior secondary schools, the Punjab cabinet on Wednesday approved a rationalisation policy. The policy, approved under the chairmanship of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, will also help remove distinction among various categories of schools, and teachers will be posted irrespective of the nature of schools, a spokesperson said.
The post of head teacher will be created in primary schools only if the number of students is more than 60 — a move that will motivate teachers to increase the strength and prevent wastage of available manpower, according to officials. The teacher-student ratio at the state level in various cadres is one teacher for every 27 students in primary schools, 22 for middle schools, 16 in high schools and 29 for senior secondary schools. This is within the norms but there is still shortage of teachers, it is learnt.
The policy makes it mandatory for school principals to take classes too (12 periods per week for principals and 15 periods per week for head teachers).
In case there are surplus teachers in the school, teachers having the longest stay will be shifted out to the common pool and all vacancies will thus be determined and put up on the education department website.
A seniority list of the surplus teachers in a particular subject will be prepared and they will be given the chance to opt for a school according to seniority. Teachers suffering from life-threatening diseases will would not be shifted out even if they are in the surplus category.
The policy also notes that many teachers prefer to get themselves posted in middle schools since there are no board exams there. As per norms, there are seven sanctioned posts in middle schools with average strength of 22 students, which amounts to high level of under-utilisation of teachers, whereas there is shortage of teachers in the high and senior secondary Schools.
One post and one section will be increased accordingly, in case the number of sections in a school increases, which would help the department save 8,007 posts, having annual financial implication of Rs 576 crore. Apart from this, services of about 1,500 surplus teachers will become available.
New transfer policy: Male teacher norm removed
The cabinet also cleared a transfer policy for teachers which will be implemented from the ensuing academic session. The policy, drafted after studying policies of Haryana and Karnataka, will be implemented through a computer software.
The cabinet also accepted the suggestion that the condition of being more than 50 years of age for male teachers to be posted in girls’ schools be dispensed with. This comes after criticism of such a norm. Also, the policy says, teachers attaining the age of 56 years as on March 31 of a year may not be posted out.
Other cabinet decisions
Panel on mining: The cabinet decided that a sub-committee will review the mining policy and suggest ways of making it more effective and stringent. It consists of local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, finance minister Manpreet Badal and rural development minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa.
Job to wrestler: Navjot Kaur, who won gold in Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will be given a job and cash reward of Rs 5 lakh. FM Manpreet said the cabinet also agreed, in principle, to give her a job of deputy superintendent of police (DSP), but as her educational qualification was not confirmed the decision will be implemented accordingly. Recently, cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur too got the post as reward.
Special case: Everest summiteer Prithvi Singh Chahal wil be appointed DSP as a special case. As the youngest to achieve the fate at 17 years, one month and 23 days of age, his case was deemed special as the cabinet felt it would encourage adventure sports in the state.
Housing: A new scheme for affordable homes says that a maximum of five acres of land will be required to carve out an affordable colony in all master plans, except in Mohali and New Chandigarh.
Name change: Department of SC/BC Welfare will be renamed as department of social justice and empowerment.
Jail strength: Cabinet gave approval for revival of 305 posts of warders and 20 posts of assistant superintendents in the jail department. The cabinet considered it necessary to revive them in order to prevent recurrence of Nabha jailbreak kind of incidents and Gurdaspur Central Jail type of riots, a spokesman said.