Vacancies and counselling trigger protest
Madurai witnessed growing opposition from secondary grade teachers, who say transfer counselling should not be held before long-pending headmaster promotions in the primary education department.
Transfer counselling set for July 2
The general transfer counselling for teachers is scheduled to begin on July 2, with secondary grade teachers’ deployment/transfer counselling planned on the very first day. Teachers argue this move could adversely affect them when a large number of headmaster posts remain vacant.
Promotions stalled for four years
Robert, state general secretary of the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association, said promotions for government primary and middle school headmasters and graduate teachers have not taken place for four years due to court cases linked to the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).
Call to fill posts first
He claimed that with at least 20 headmaster vacancies per union across 412 unions, more than 8,000 posts are lying vacant. The association wants the government to conduct headmaster promotions first, noting that the Supreme Court has directed candidates to clear TET by August 2028. They suggested promotions could proceed with a condition to meet the court-mandated TET deadline, and only then should any surplus-staff deployment counselling be held—also enabling many teachers working outside their home districts to seek transfers back through vacancies created by promotions.
