Education Dept revises holiday guidelines
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, February 13
Ending confusion over the holiday entitlement of government schoolteachers, the School Education Department today withdrew its list of local and restricted holidays.
In this list, released on December 22, 2017, the teachers in government schoolteachers were entitled to only two local holidays and there was no mention of restricted holidays.
However today, the department has conveyed all government schools in the state to avail any five restricted holidays from the list of 34. The schools have been asked to give their preferences about these holidays on the online portal of the department before February 20 and there would be no change in this choice later.
On January 24, The Tribune had reported the confusion among teachers on holiday entitlement after the state government reduced the gazetted holidays from 37 to 20 for 2018 calendar year.
Besides 20 holidays, each employee has been permitted to avail any five holidays from the list of 34 restricted holidays in all departments of the state government. These restricted holidays have been increased from two in 2017 to five in 2018.
This increase in restricted holidays had led to confusion among the teachers. So far, all government employees were availing two restricted holidays a year and the schools availed two local holidays in lieu of these restricted holidays.
While the restricted holidays were increased to five, the Education Department had not announced any increase in the local holidays vis-à-vis restricted holidays.
In the absence of any formal announcement by the department about the restricted and local holidays, the district education officers (DEOs) at various places were interpreting things differently.
While the teachers were demanding three restricted holidays and two local holidays to compensate the loss of reduction in the gazetted holidays on the pattern of all government employees in the state, the DEOs in some districts had directed the school heads to adjust any restricted holiday availed by a teacher against his/her casual or earned leave.
Ending the confusion, the Director, School Education Department, said all schools were entitled to five restricted holidays of their choice from the list of 34.
