The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated a process to redeploy surplus teachers to schools that are deficient in teaching staff, following directives from the high court. The exercise aims to ensure that every school in the state has at least two teachers.
Current teacher shortage scenario
According to official data, Uttar Pradesh has 1,605 schools with only one teacher, 458 schools with no teachers at all, and 508 schools that have only one Shiksha Mitra (para teacher). The redeployment drive seeks to address these critical shortages.
Government directive
Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary for Basic and Secondary Education, has written to District Magistrates (DMs) instructing them to begin the redeployment process. The district-level committees are required to first collect comprehensive data, including the sanctioned strength of teachers, the actual number of working teachers, student strength, the names and numbers of surplus teachers as per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, and those proposed for redeployment.
Verification and timeline
The redeployment will commence only after physical verification of the data available on the UDISE portal as of April 30. The district-level committee will seek verification and joint certification from the school’s head teacher and the Block Education Officer.
Key conditions
- Minimum teacher requirement: Every institution must have at least two teachers. No non-surplus teacher at any institution will be affected by this exercise.
- Preference for women teachers: Wherever a woman surplus teacher is to be redeployed, the district-level committee must make all efforts to redeploy her within the same block first. If that is not possible, she should be redeployed to the nearest block that is well connected by road, preferably to the school nearest to her residence.
Objection process
Head teachers have been asked to provide a copy of the verified data, including the sanctioned number of teachers and students, to the district-level committee. Teachers whose transfer is proposed may register their objections offline before the committee until May 13. Teachers will not be redeployed to schools that already have two teachers as of April 30, as stated by Sharma.
