Kutch: In a bid to address the chronic shortage of government primary school teachers in Kutch, the Gujarat government has introduced a new rule under which candidates recruited for Kutch under a special drive will not be eligible for transfer to any other district during their entire service.

This move, effective from the current academic session, was officially notified on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Education Praful Pansheriya stated that the district faces a shortage of over 3,000 primary teachers. Many teachers posted in Kutch, primarily from Saurashtra and North Gujarat, seek transfers to their home districts after serving the mandatory five-year period. To curb this exodus, the government has decided to enforce permanent postings in Kutch for new appointees.

Alongside the earlier sanctioned 5,000 vidyasahayak posts for Classes I to V, the government will fill 2,500 additional posts directly in Kutch. For Classes VI to VIII, 1,600 of the approved 7,000 vacancies will be allocated to the district.

According to the Government Primary Teachers’ Association, earlier, teachers recruited in certain backward talukas were required to stay in the same block for 10 years—a term later reduced to five years for inter-district transfers and two years for block-level transfers. However, no such clauses existed in recent recruitments, leading to over 60% of teacher posts in Kutch remaining vacant today.

Now, the government hopes that the new non-transferable, lifetime clause will ensure better teacher retention and ultimately improve education standards in the region. DeshGujarat