Maternity Leave for West Bengal Primary and High School Teacher

In this blog, I have discussed Maternity Leave.  This leave is applicable to female teachers of primary and secondary schools, non-teaching female staff.  However, there are separate notifications for female teachers or non-teaching female staff of primary, secondary and higher secondary schools.  Through the Latest Notification of Maternity Leave, Maternity Leave of female employees of various departments has been increased to 180 days.

Notification of Maternity Leave 

 Primary Education Branch Department Latest G.O No.  573-SE(Pry.)/10R-1/99 dt.  15.09.2011.

Secondary and HS Education Branch Department Latest G.O No.  is S/148 dt.  03.06.2011.

The rules for teachers of all departments are almost the same regarding Maternity Leave.

Confinement Date of Confinement Date

An important point in taking Maternity Leave is the Confinement Date i.e. the date of delivery of the child.  The Maternity Leave is sanctioned from this date.  Although in many cases this leave can be taken a few days before the Confinement Date.  In that case, this leave has to be approved by showing the certificate obtained from the Registered Medical Practitioner or the Medical Officer of the Government Hospital.

Sanctioning authority for Maternity Leave

DPSC Chairman approved Maternity Leave for primary school teachers.

And this leave is approved by the Managing Committee for secondary and higher secondary school teachers.

Maximum limit of Maternity Leave

A female teacher can get a maximum 180 days of Maternity Leave .  The notification does not mention the maximum number of children a female teacher can get this leave for giving birth.

Maternity Leave for Miscarriage or Abortion

A primary female teacher can get Maternity Leave upto a maximum of 45 days in case of Miscarriage or Abortion.  But female teachers of secondary or higher secondary schools will not get leave for more than 42 days or six weeks in case of miscarriage or abortion.

Commuted Leave Combined with Maternity Leave

If a primary female teacher has taken Commuted Leave Combined with Maternity Leave, then according to her HPL (Half Pay Leave) she can take as much Commuted Leave as she has accumulated.

But a female teacher of a secondary and higher secondary school cannot combine more than 30 Commuted Leave with Maternity Leave.  Because they get a maximum of 30 Commuted Leave in their working life.

Maternity Leave before joining the service

If a female teacher has child delivery before joining the service, then she will not get Maternity Leave for that delivery.

Other leave with Maternity Leave

Any leave other than Casual Leave and Compensatory Leave can be continued with Maternity Leave, but proper documents must be submitted or proper reasons must be shown.

Maternity Leave on vacation

Case-1

Suppose a female teacher is on a long vacation. A child was born during this long vacation. Maternity Leave ends during this Long Vacation. She concealed it without informing the SI office/DPSC/MC. She thought that everything was done during the Long Vacation, so there was no need to inform the SI office/DPSC/MC. And she also thought of taking leave in this regard again later. But in this case it will not be, because there may be some difficulty later. There may be difficulties during document preparation of pension or in many other cases where the name and date of birth of family members are required. Therefore, even if the child is delivered during the Long Vacation, the sanction must be done.

Case-2

A female teacher thought that since the baby was born during the long vacation, don't take maternity leave now, take maternity leave when the vacation is over. But in this case it will not. Because maternity leave will be sanctioned from the day a female teacher's child is born. Confinement Date has to be mentioned in the application form of Maternity Leave.

Case-3

A female teacher has been sanctioned maternity leave before the Long Vacation and that leave has ended during the Long Vacation. In this case, the female teacher must join the school on the day the school opens after the end of the vacation. Suppose the female teacher didn't join the school that day for some reason, she joined the school the next day. Then in this case, the day on which her Maternity Leave is over, then from the day on which she joins to the day before that, she has to get another leave sanctioned. For those days, except Casual Leave or Compensatory Leave, all other leaves (CCL, Medical Leave, Commuted Leave, HPL) can be taken by showing proper reasons.

Full salary is available on maternity leave.

Maternity Leave enter in Maternity Leave

All information must be entered in the Service Book as per Sanction Copy of Maternity Leave. Female teachers have to apply for maternity leave. 

Maternity Leave before the Confinement Date

If a female teacher takes Maternity Leave a few days before the Confinement Date, the Medical Certificate of the registered medical practitioner or Medical Officer of the Government Hospital should be submitted and Rest should be mentioned in that certificate. After the end of Maternity Leave, the female teacher should apply with Application, Joining Report, Hospital Discharge Certificate or Doctor Fit Certificate while joining the school.