The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The teacher transfer cases have been a perennial problem with the Ministry of Education (MoE), and with no solution in sight. The transfer cases are sought on marital or health grounds, and number of years served in the rural areas, etc.
In 2020, out of 104 transfer cases, 54 teachers were transferred on the marital ground. This year, out of 153 teachers, 99 teachers were transferred on marital grounds.
Education Minister Jai Bir Rai said there are 2,000 to 3,000 teachers who seek transfer on various grounds every year.
There are many teachers who want to come to urban areas after serving in the rural areas for many years is also one of the grave issues currently.
“I would love to transfer teachers wherever they wish to go, but then the nation suffers.” The difficulty of not having a teacher in a school and a civil servant in the office makes a huge difference. So taking this into consideration, a teacher must understand, the Education Minister said.
So far, teachers have been understanding of the situation, and there are teachers who have been staying away with their family and spouses. The ministry is very grateful towards the teachers, said the minister Lyonpo said.
He also said it is good that the issue came out in the National Assembly (NA), but the nation must understand the difficulties because as the Education Minister, the choice is between solving the individual issues and solving the nation’s issues by not educating the children due to lack of teachers.
Even though MoE is trying its best to send teachers to work in the place of their choice, the Education Minister suggested if other organizations could also facilitate the transfer of the spouse in the same place.
The minister said also has to do with subjects. If an English teacher wishes to transfer to another dzongkhag where their spouse is, they also have to make sure whether the school is in need of an English teacher, otherwise it will be another issue where one school is has a shortage of English teachers and another school has more number of teachers.
Meanwhile, during the Question and Answer Session in NA, Jomotsangkha-Martshala MP Norbu Wangzom said it is mostly the married teachers under MoE that face problems in getting transfers together and the MP asked about the measures.
