Now, govt schoolteachers can’t stagger medical leave

Gagan K Teja

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Tribune News Service

Patiala, October 6

A recent change in the Punjab Civil Services Rules has come as a setback for government schoolteachers. They will now have to take the 15-day medical leave in one go. If a teacher is slightly unwell and needs leave for two-three days, he/she will have no option but to either take medical leave for 15 days or exhaust their casual leave, earned leave or half-pay leave.

There are two categories of staff in the Education Department — vocation (teaching) and non-vocation (non-teaching).

The non-vocation employees get earned leave according to the length of service. While they get 15 days of earned leave per year for first 10 years, 20 in the next 10 and 30 for the third decade. In 1990, the Pay Commission granted eight-day compensatory earned leave per year to teachers.

As per the new CSR rules, any employee who gets earned leave cannot avail 15-day medical leave in phases.

The development has affected the functioning of the schools to a large extent. Ranjit Singh Mann of Government Senior Secondary School, Lachkhani, said: “The changes have created anomalies. While the non-teaching staff get 15 to 30-day earned leave per year, the teachers are getting only eight-day leave. The government should either equate our earned leaves with other categories or allow us to utilise medical leave as per need.”

A senior officer requesting anonymity said the rule had become a cause of discontent among teachers. The move causes financial loss to teachers as earned leaves get encashed at the time of retirement, while they get nothing for pending medical leave. So, why not avail a leave that will lapse at the end, she said.

Admitting that he was aware of the problems being faced by the teachers, DPI (Secondary) Balbir Singh said the department had written to the Punjab Government in this regard. He said 15-day leave certainly caused loss of studies in schools. “We have urged the government to exempt the teaching staff from these rules,” he said.