It’s noiseless backstabbing! Self-styled intellectuals in the education department disclose internal information to settle personal score; Transfer of teachers evokes mixed responses

It’s noiseless backstabbing! Self-styled intellectuals in the education department disclose internal information to settle personal score; Transfer of teachers evokes mixed responses

SALIL RAINA

(POONCH TODAY NEWS)

POONCH: After a long gap, the education department in Poonch took a strong and much awaited decision by issuing a list of teacher transfers, which evoked mixed responses. A large number of teachers termed the drive successful, but others, who were not adjusted properly, raised their voice against the department by levelling staid allegations of professional misconduct.

The issue turned into the talk of the town as people were seen discussing it at various places. Reports reaching “POONCH TODAY” from different sources are saying that deserving cases will be addressed soon by the department to ensure that justice is delivered to the deserved ones. But one shocking factor that came to the attention of “POONCH TODAY” is that a few blue eyed employees of the education department, who consider themselves self-styled intellectuals, were the brains behind disclosing every internal piece of information to some social media activists with a hidden agenda of tarnishing the image of the department on the basis of the counterfeit narratives. As per the story carried out by a social media activist from Jammu, a sitting principal played an unconvinced role against the department on this issue. These self-proclaimed intellectuals, once powerful in the department, used to play their part in every issue of the department, but in recent years, they were sidelined based on their uncertain credentials, and now to settle their score, they started backstabbing the department by disclosing every internal piece of information about various government policies to some YouTube activists. Reports also said that even the office of the DDC Chairperson came into the limelight because the concern of the said office related to some favours in transfers were not addressed, and later, the said office jumped in with a demand for an inquiry. Meanwhile, the teachers who were not adjusted as per their choices approached different quarters for justice, and there are reports that the department will consider genuine cases soon. A retired well known lecturer from the education department, on the condition of anonymity, said, “This was an internal issue of the department that could have been settled amicably, but by bringing this issue into the public domain through illegitimate social media platforms, various employees have violated the social media policy of the government, in which employees are bound not to comment anything against the government policies. Having a degree doesn’t mean that one is educated. Moral values, ethics, and professional conduct are also important. Teachers are the builders of the nation, and if they indulge in violations of government policies on social media, then what can others learn from them?” added “I strongly appeal to the department to consider the genuine cases of the teachers who think that they did not get justice. Justice should be delivered to all teachers.” Although it was an internal issue of the department, the question arises of how some self-styled intellectuals played foul behind the curtains and gave negative feedback on social media platforms about the government policies that were implemented in the department and also about the transfer drive. This unprofessional conduct on the part of a few blue eyed employees with questionable credentials has shown that they wanted to create a divide between teachers by tarnishing the image of the department with a false narrative through unprofessional conduct on social media platforms. On the other hand, reforms in the education department were long overdue, and transfers were part and parcel of those reforms, but officials of the department never collected the guts to ensure large-scale transfers over the years. Sources in the directorate of school education Jammu told “POONCH TODAY” that ensuring teacher transfers in the sensitive Poonch district was a very tough task, but the Director of school education and his subordinate officers at the district level accepted this challenge and carried out this audacious task of ensuring teacher transfers after a long time, which was otherwise impossible going by the past history of Poonch district, although fingers were also raised on the drive by the affected teachers. Sources also said that the Directorate Office has also asked for details of those officials who have violated the social media conduct rules of government employees, thereby bringing a bad name to the department. On the other hand, a high-level inquiry is needed from the government into the issue of backstabbing by some employees of the education department by tarnishing its image by disclosing internal information to illegitimate social media activists, and ways and means also need to be identified to give justice to the deserving teachers who think that they did not get the posting of their choice.