ABSTRACT
Teacher motivation is a complex issue in India. Teacher motivation is a huge issue in education, and unless we, as a nation, decide to take it seriously, the future of our children is shaky. There are two principal problems with the issue of teacher transfers. The first problem is that of institutional corruption: teachers can manipulate the system when it permits 'informal' practices to exist. The second and equally important problem is that there are no educational criteria by which teachers can apply for a desired transfer. In other words, if effective teaching practices were linked to teachers' ability to access desired postings, it could have the effect of both catalysing better teaching and diminishing the importance of 'informal channels' within the system. This, of course, requires that educational outcomes be placed at the centre of the decision-making criteria that affect teachers.
