Srinagar – The Jammu and Kashmir School Education Department (SED) has notified a comprehensive new transfer policy for its employees, introducing a five-zone rotation system and a point-based assessment mechanism. The policy aims to regulate transfers through prescribed tenure norms, merit-based points, and staff rationalisation, while also providing special safeguards for employees serving in difficult areas.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the new framework supersedes all previous government orders on the subject. Educational institutions across the Union Territory have been divided into five Annual Transfer Drive (ATD) zones. Zone-I encompasses institutions within municipal limits of district headquarters. Zone-II includes areas outside municipal limits but within 20 kilometres of district headquarters. Zone-III covers institutions located beyond 20 and up to 40 kilometres from district headquarters.
Zone-IV comprises institutions situated more than 40 kilometres from district headquarters, necessitating a change of residence, while Zone-V has been designated as the difficult-area category. Employees posted in Zones I, II, and III will ordinarily serve a three-year tenure at a particular institution. The tenure will be two years for Zone-IV and one year for Zone-V.
According to the policy, employees completing their prescribed tenure in Zone-V will ordinarily be relieved from such postings, with concerned directorates responsible for their further adjustment. Retention beyond the stipulated tenure will be permitted only in exceptional circumstances, requiring written justification. Completion of the prescribed Zone-V tenure will grant employees a preferential claim for consideration against suitable vacancies in Zones-I and II, subject to administrative requirements.
The policy also seeks to prevent prolonged postings in challenging areas by making service there a significant factor in the new transfer assessment system. Employees serving in Zone-V can earn five points for completing the mandated tenure, with additional points for service beyond this period, capped at a maximum of 25 points. For service in Zone-IV, employees will receive three points for completing the prescribed tenure, along with additional points for extended service, up to a maximum of 15 points.
An online, point-based Transfer Assessment Matrix has been introduced for the annual transfer exercise to determine the relative priority among employees seeking transfers. In addition to hard-area service, the matrix awards five points to employees aged 55 years and above, and five points to female employees who are widows, divorcees, or single parents. Persons with benchmark disabilities can receive up to 10 points, as can employees with serious illnesses affecting themselves, their spouse, child, or dependent parent.
Employees whose spouses are also serving in government and posted in the same district will receive five points. The policy also provides 10 points for demonstrated exceptional academic performance, including improvements in student learning outcomes, board examination results, school performance, and other measurable academic achievements over the preceding three academic years.
Employees aged 58 years and above will generally not be posted to Zone-IV or Zone-V, except in cases of compelling administrative considerations or when the employee requests such a posting. Special consideration will be given to government-employed spouses, employees nearing superannuation, single parents, widows, divorcees, female employees, persons with benchmark disabilities, and those facing exceptional medical or security-related circumstances. Government-employed spouses will, as far as feasible, be posted suitably or within reasonable proximity to each other, subject to post availability.
Employees due to retire within one year will preferably be posted near their residences. Those aged 58 years and above will ordinarily be kept out of the two hardest zones. The government will also consider inter-cadre transfers on marriage grounds, based on the recommendation of a designated committee, provided the employee has completed at least five years of service in their parent district or divisional cadre.
The policy places restrictions on mutual transfers, which will generally not be permitted within the so-called soft Zones I, II, and III. Such transfers will primarily be considered if they facilitate rotation from hard zones without adversely affecting pupil-teacher ratios. Employees transferred on a mutual basis will be required to serve a minimum of three years at their allotted place.
The department has also enhanced staff rationalisation provisions, allowing surplus employees identified through rationalisation to be redeployed to institutions facing shortages, irrespective of their tenure at their current posting. However, rationalisation should not lead to the complete depletion of teaching staff from an institution or adversely affect the teaching of core subjects.
Transfers will ordinarily be conducted after the conclusion of the academic session and before the commencement of the next academic session. The department reserves the right to order transfers during the academic session in cases involving academic or administrative exigencies, including subject-specific requirements, staff imbalances, school results, enrolment patterns, and institutional performance. The competent authority is empowered to defer, modify, or withhold a transfer if its implementation is likely to negatively impact academic outcomes, public examinations, or the functioning of an institution.
The government has explicitly stated that the new transfer policy does not apply to Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) and Regularised Rehbar-e-Taleem (RReT) employees, whose appointments are school-specific. A separate framework governing their transfers and allied service matters is currently under formulation and will be notified separately.
The Chenab Times News Desk