Teachers’ body demands action on stalled mutual transfers

Kolkata: Nearly 10 months after the Utsashree portal resumed accepting mutual transfer applications, no recommendations or transfer orders have been issued, prompting frustration among applicants and renewed calls from teacher associations for immediate action.

Launched in August 2021, the Utsashree Portal has had its general transfer process suspended since September 2022. Although mutual transfers—where two teachers agree to exchange their posts—were exempted from the suspension from January 2025, teachers allege that the process has remained non-functional.

“We applied for mutual transfer in January, but our applications have been showing ‘under process’ for months,” said Bibek Ranjan Bhuiyan, a geography teacher from East Midnapore who sought a swap posting to West Midnapore.

Recently, the All Post Graduate Teachers’ Welfare Association submitted a letter to the Commissioner and Secretary of the School Education department and the Chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), demanding immediate clearance of pending recommendations and transfer orders.

The association argued that mutual transfers neither disrupt school functioning nor affect teaching continuity and therefore should not remain suspended. It urged the School Education department to expedite pending cases and implement reforms, including unlocking all teacher profiles for fresh applications, resolving section-related discrepancies to permit transfers between normal and higher secondary sections, holding multiple transfer rounds each year.