AI registration is a must for transfer of teachers: Education Minister Ranoj Pegu

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said that only AI-registered teachers giving regular attendance on the Shiksha Setu would be eligible for transfer from now onwards. He said that the government has stopped accepting fresh applications for teacher transfers on the hrmsassam.in portal.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), the Minister said, “We have stopped accepting fresh applications for teacher transfers in the hrmsassam.in portal. Applications pending until October 28 will be disposed of as per the rules. The method of application will be changed at a later stage.

“Arrangements have been made to link the hrmsassam.in portal with the Shiksha Setu app. Only teachers who are AI registered and give regular attendance on the Shiksha Setu can apply for transfer from now on.

“On the basis of information available in the Shiksha Setu portal, there will be central verification, and a decision will be taken.”

According to sources, after several years, the government opened single and mutual transfers of teachers in August 2022. However, as many as 17,000 applications seeking transfers are still pending.

Reacting to the statement of the Education Minister, Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association (ASPTA) secretary general Ratul Chandra Goswami said, “The State Government has an Act—the Assam Elementary and Secondary School Teachers’ (Regulation of Posting and Transfer) Act, 2020. However, the government doesn’t follow this Act. The Act specifically spells out the eligibility for the transfer of a teacher. What the Education Minister wrote on X is not in the Act.”

Goswami said, “However, we have been opposing the Teacher Transfer Act of 2020 as it makes it mandatory for a teacher to complete ten years or more of service at a place. However, a government employee in other departments is eligible for transfer after the completion of three years of service at a given place. Why is this discrimination? We raised the demand for making the period of service eligible for transfer five years instead of ten years. We want the government to simplify the process of transferring teachers instead of complicating it.”

Meanwhile, according to the Shiksha Setu app, every day, 20,000 to 45,000 teachers remain absent in the state. And only 2,11,772 teachers in the state have AI-registered in the portal so far, and over 1,000 teachers have not yet registered in the app.

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