Govt freezes primary teacher transfers indefinitely

The government has indefinitely suspended the transfer of primary school teachers, citing irregularities and administrative complications in the existing process, and will keep all transfers on hold until more than 14,000 newly recruited assistant teachers have been deployed, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj announced on Monday.

Briefing reporters at the Secretariat, Hajjaj said the transfer mechanism was undergoing a comprehensive review aimed at instilling greater transparency, accountability and administrative discipline within the sector. He stipulated that every category of teacher transfer would remain frozen until the newly appointed teachers had been posted to their respective schools, after which the authorities would determine whether to reinstate the existing policy or adopt a revised framework altogether. The recruitment drive itself had unfolded in stages: a written examination was administered on January 9 across 1,408 centres in 61 districts, after which the results of the 69,265 candidates who cleared the test were released on January 21; a subsequent viva voce process led the Directorate of Primary Education to recommend 14,384 candidates for final appointment in February.

Beyond the transfer freeze, Hajjaj outlined a series of measures intended to render primary education more effective, inclusive and quality-driven, notably a shift toward a needs-based stipend framework. He emphasised that the government was exploring avenues to broaden financial support for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, while simultaneously reinforcing non-formal education channels to draw children and adolescents currently excluded from formal schooling back into the educational fold.

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The state minister further identified several priorities poised to shape the sector's trajectory, including integrating academic learning with employable skills, expanding the deployment of technology in classrooms, and ensuring the meaningful inclusion of marginalised communities. Taken together, these initiatives, he suggested, reflect a broader recalibration of primary education policy--one that pairs administrative reform with a more equitable, forward-looking vision for the system's beneficiaries.