E-Paper
U.P.: Reply sought for denial of maternity leave to 60 govt women teachers
The U.P. basic education department has sought an explanation from district level officers after the matter came to light in a recently held review meeting
The Uttar Pradesh basic education department has sought an explanation from district level officers after it came to light in a review meeting held recently that nearly 60 women teachers of 20 districts were denied maternity or child care leave by the education department officials last year.
Pooja Jaiswal, an assistant teacher at primary school Kaisraie in Basti district, had applied for six-month maternity leave from February 25, 2022 to August 20, 2022. However, it was rejected by block education officer Kapil Deo Dwivedi.
Pragya Singh, an assistant teacher at Composite School Budhai in Jhansi district, had applied for maternity leave from September 20, 2022 to January 10, 2023 but it was rejected by block education officer Sudhir Kumar Gupta.
Likewise, Deepika Singh, an assistant teacher of Composite School, Daniyalganj, Hardoi district, had applied for maternity leave from June 18 to December 17. However, it was rejected by block education officer Shiv Singh.
The matter came to light in the review meeting held in December end where it was found that maternity and child care leave was cancelled by BEOs. As per the new rules, teachers can only apply leave online on Manav Sampda portals. And it is upto the reporting managers of teachers to approve it.
The women teachers whose maternity leave was cancelled said that earlier leave applications were applied physically. Many times, women teachers had to pay bribe to BEOs to get their leave approved, they alleged. To end this wrong practice, a provision was made to apply for leave online. Here too, the BEOs rejected the maternity leave of several women teachers which they are entitled to.
Many of these women teachers have not reported the matter to competent officials as they fear that it may result in disciplinary action against them. However, now that the matter has come to light, they are hopeful that something good will come out of it and their leave will now be approved.
Director general, school education, Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Kiran Anand has sought an explanation from basic shiksha adhikaris. “Maternity leave cannot be denied to any women teachers as it is their right. We are awaiting responses from basic shiksha adhikaris and accordingly action will be taken,” he said.
There are nearly 60 such cases where child care leave and maternity leave applied by women teachers of government primary and upper primary schools were rejected by block education officers who happen to be their reporting managers.
As per the state government rules, women employees are entitled to 2 years of child care leave for two children and maternity leave for six months which they can avail twice during their pregnancy or post-delivery.
In another case, Shilpi Jaiswal, head teacher at primary school Palhari in Barabanki district, had applied for 3 months of child care leave between September 19, 2022 and December 17, 2022. However, it was rejected by block education officer Sanjay Kumar Shukla.
Shilpi was to give birth to her third child. But as per the government policy, maternity leave can only be granted for two children. So, she applied for 3 months child care leave (CCL) against her first child which was rejected by BEO Shukla without citing any reason. Shipli was asked to apply for 30 to 45 days CCL instead of 90 days leave.
She applied for 30 days CCL that was approved. As she needed more leave to look after her kids, she then clubbed it with two days casual leave thar was again rejected. Then she applied for medical leave from November 1 to 19 followed by another one-month CCL from November 29 to December 28 last year.
“While I was on leave, district level officers visited the school and found deficiency in the students’ learning outcome. And on that basis, my salary for December was held back,” she said.
Basic shiksha adhikari of Barabanki Santosh Pandey said, “It is possible that BEOs may have cancelled child care leave of some teachers, particularly those employed in such schools where there are few teachers only. The matter is being looked into.”
Block education officer of Masauli in Barabanki, Sanjay Kumar Shukla said, “All teachers from a school cannot be given CCL together. We have responsibilities to improve the learning outcome of students. Hence they were asked to take staggered leave.”
Social activist and former Lucknow University vice chancellor Prof Roop Rekha Verma said, “Under no circumstances maternity leave cannot be denied to any government staff. It is a sensitive matter and should be handled carefully.”
