Over 40,000 mid-day meal staff to get maternity leave benefits in Punjab
Earlier,a mid-day meal worker wanting to go on maternity leave had to avail casual leave or temporarily depute a substitute in the school to prepare meals
Providing major relief to around 40,000 mid-day meal (MDM) workers and other staff, the Punjab government has given its nod to provide them maternity leave for 180 days in accordance with the Maternity Benefit Act.
Earlier,a mid-day meal worker wanting to go on maternity leave had to avail casual leave or temporarily depute a substitute in the school to prepare meals.
Welcoming the move, workers in the district said that this will motivate more women to work as cooks in government schools. There are over 3,622 MDM cooks preparing meals in 1,536 government schools of the district.
The state education department has also issued a pro forma through which the MDM cooks can apply for maternity leave and it is compulsory to attach a medical certificate. In the pro forma, details such as for how many students the cook is catering to, how many other cooks are there in the school, for how many years the worker has been working needs to be mentioned. The pro forma has to be duly signed by the school head and district education officer.
As per Maternity Benefit Act 1961, “No women shall be entitled to maternity benefit unless she has actually worked in an establishment of the employer from whom she claims maternity benefit for a period of not less than one hundred and sixty days in twelve months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery.”
MDM worker at a government school Parvinder Kaur said, “I am preparing meals for 500 students on a daily basis and working here for the last five years.Now, with the government allowing cooks to take maternity leave with all benefits, MDM workers can take care of their child at home with full pay.”
The MDM cooks get a meagre salary of Rs 1,700 per month and now will also be paid during the 180 days maternity leave.
General manager of the state MDM cell, Mohali, Prabcharan Singh, said, “This move will benefit the MDM workers and helpers who can now avail maternity leave by submitting the pro forma.”