Leave approval mobile app for teachers soon: Edu minister
› To speed up the process of approving leave applications, the education department is working on a mobile app through which a teacher can apply for longterm leave.
ARUNA CHAUDHARY, Punjab education minister
NAWANSHAHR: Government school teachers will no more have to make rounds of the office of the district education officer (DEO) or other education offices to get their long-term leave applications approved as the education department will soon come up with a mobile application for this task, said education minister Aruna Chaudhary here on Tuesday.
Chaudhary was speaking during the convocation of the Sikh National College in Banga.
“To speed up the process of approving leave applications, the department is working on a mobile application through which a teacher can apply for long-term leave, especially for going abroad, childcare leave or maternity leave,” she said.
Presently, teachers have to send their leave applications manually for approval to the district education officer (DEO), who is authorised to sanction 15-day leave. If the teacher seeks leave for a month or more, the application is further forwarded to the director of public instruction (DPI).
While the two-month leave is sanctioned by the education secretary, the education minister is authorised to sanction leave for three months and if a teacher needs six months’ leave, it needs approval from the chief minister.
She said that a separate cadre of teachers has been formed to depute them in the remote areas, where no teacher was ready to go.
Teachers deputed in remote areas will get additional increment, she added.
Chaudhary said the teachers, who will get their wards admitted in government schools, will get extra 15 marks out of the total 50 marks in the assessment under the new transfer policy and get a chance to get a transfer at the station of their choice on merit.
Chaudhary also said that the rationalisation of teachers will take place soon so that students’ studies won’t suffer.Meanwhile, Chaudhary handed over degrees to as many as 600 students of different streams of the college and she wished them best of luck.