The school education department announced on Friday the transfer of 23,145 primary school teachers from government-aided primary schools, as the existing vacancies in teacher positions required a “rationalisation process”.

The order issued by the department states that the rationalisation will facilitate the smooth running of the primary schools.

The order says: “There are total No. 23,145 surplus primary school teachers in different primary schools, whereas there are total No. of 23,962 deficit teachers in different other primary schools under different DPSCs (District Primary School Councils).”

“Therefore, to utilise the service of the primary school teachers, an intra-district rationalisation process is to be done for the smooth functioning of the primary schools and in the interest of the students under the 22 DPSCs.”

The recruitment of teachers at the primary schools (from Classes I to V) has been irregular amid allegations of illegalities in the recruitment process. Following the appointment of approximately 9,000 teachers in 2021, a similar number of teachers were appointed in 2024.

In light of accusations regarding widespread illegal activities in the hiring of teachers, which led to the October 2022 arrest of former primary education board president Manik Bhattacharya by the CBI, no recruitment was conducted in 2022 and 2023. The board has yet to announce when it will hold the selection test again.

Bhattacharya was released on bail last year.

“An irregular recruitment process means the vacancies are accumulating. The superannuation of teachers adds to the void, hampering the studies of primary school students. A large-scale transfer of the surplus teachers is being done to salvage the situation,” said Swapan Mandal, the general secretary of Bengal Teachers’ and Employees’ Association.

“Before Puja, education minister Bratya Basu announced that over 13,000 teachers would be appointed soon. On Thursday, the government announced the draft recruitment rules to make the recruitment process more transparent. Once the draft rules are finalised, we will start large-scale appointments. Till then, we have to manage through the rationalisation process,” the official said.

Metro reported on Friday that the draft recruitment rules, which propose increasing the weightage of TET and lowering the weightage of academic scores, have been published for public feedback for 15 days, starting November 7.