Karnataka’s school education department portal for teachers receive around 300 complaints

The portal has recorded nearly 70,000 visits and has received several complaints centered around teacher transfers and the teacher recruitment process.

Karnataka School Education Minister BC Nagesh recently launched a portal for School Education, Literacy and Sakala Minister that provides a collaborative view and insight into the education department’s performance and progress.

Just a few days after the launch of the School Education, Literacy and Sakala Minister portal, around 300 complaints were registered. According to the Indian Express report, the portal has recorded nearly 70,000 visits and has received several complaints centered around teacher transfers and the teacher recruitment process. There were few complaints reported on infrastructure-related issues, an education official added.

“Most of the complaints were registered by final year B.Ed candidates who also want to be considered for teacher posts. Many candidates have written to the minister requesting to be posted for job opportunities. Second, many fresh teachers who have been recruited this year are requesting the government not to accept application from teachers who are seeking transfer. This is because they feel they might lose out on job opportunities if the existing teachers are transferred,” said the education official.

This comes after several teachers who have been posted in Kalyana Karnataka districts are wanting to come back to their native places after serving for over two years. In fact, during the latest Karnataka legislative session, a new teacher transfer bill was passed ‘exempting the limit prescribed for the transfer of teachers’.

The Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, exempts the limit prescribed for mutual transfers and transfers made under special categories in the Kalyana Karnataka region, Malnad region and educationally backward districts.

The Bill allows mutual transfer to a place within or outside a unit subject to the condition that both teachers have completed a minimum of five years of service in the cadre. A senior education official said, “The complaints will be directed to respective departments who will address them appropriately. As far as the teacher transfers are concerned, the department of public instruction should take a call.”

During the launch of the portal, the minister said that with the help of this web portal, one can access multiple departmental IT systems, which are used by different wings/ divisions of the department. The portal also collates relevant information/data from multiple IT systems presently used in the department.

“The portal aims to make the education department more transparent. Teachers, students, and common citizens can also address the grievances related to the education department and flag issues that sometimes don’t reach up to the ministry level,” Nagesh said during the launch of the event.

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