Bareilly: The Yogi Adityanath government’s announcement of a new transfer policy for teachers in primary and upper primary schools has made them see red.The transfer policy is aimed at ensuring an equitable and demand-based distribution of teachers. But teachers’ association has threatened to protest if amendments are not made in the policy.According to government rules, a primary school should have one teacher for every 30 students while the ratio of teacher and student in junior high schools is 1:33.However, teachers claimed that government is identifying “surplus teachers” by considering the strength of students as on April 30 instead of September 30, which was considered till now. They claimed that since the admission process in schools takes place from April to September, the students’ strength is only 60% in April.In Bareilly district, nearly 9,000 teachers have been appointed in 2,098 primary schools and 794 junior high schools. Basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) Chandana Ram Iqbal Yadav said, “We have started the process of identifying surplus teachers in schools considering the enrolment number of students till April 30. The basic education department has asked us to ensure that no school should have a teacher-student ratio more than 1:40 and less than 1:20. Transfers will be done as per the rules laid by the government.”Bareilly district president of Uttar Pradesh Junior High School Teachers’ Association (UPJHSTA) Rajendra Gangwar told TOI, “After the academic session ends in March, admissions to class I in primary schools and class VI in upper primary schools starts in April and continues till September. Due to the summer vacation in May and June, the admission process picks up momentum only in July. Even the government distributes books, school uniforms and appoints cooks for mid-day meals considering the total number of students as on September 30. If transfers are done considering strength of students as on April 30, it will be wrong as the ratio of students and teachers will vary.”In this context, the district chapter of UPJHSTA held a meeting of teachers here on Sunday. They decided to protest if amendments are not made in the transfer policy.Arun Mishra, secretary of Bareilly unit of the Uttar Pradeshiye Prathamik Shikshak Sangh, said, “The staff has made clerical errors in recording the total number of students in a few schools. For instance, the strength of a primary school in Dunka has been wrongly written as 106 instead of 206. Correction is a long and tedious process. We oppose transfer of teachers in such a situation and if the need arises, we will move court against it.“On the order of the government, the department had appointed teachers having specialization in mathematics, science and Urdu in 2015. However, such specialist teachers will now be transferred and a few schools may end up having two mathematics teachers but not a single Urdu teacher,” added Mishra.

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