Teachers whose date of delivery falls during the summer vacations will no longer be able to avail themselves of maternity leave from the date of school reopening in June.
The General Education department has issued a circular that teachers whose date of delivery falls during the summer vacation will be allowed maternity leave from the date of childbirth.
To be rescheduled
The practice till now was that teachers who give birth during April or May would apply for maternity leave from the date schools reopened for the new academic year, and they were allowed 180 days’ maternity leave. Now, the department has decided that any maternity leaves so sanctioned be cancelled and rescheduled. The leave availed may be treated as LWA (leave without allowance) or other eligible leave.
On duty, technically
The circular says that allowing maternity leave from a date that is distant from the date of delivery goes against the purpose of the leave. The vacation was technically duty period and teachers were expected to report for work if asked. However, teachers whose date of delivery fell during the vacation period were not medically fit to come for work from that particular date, and hence should go on leave from the delivery date itself.
