‘No child care leave to staff during HS examination’

In exceptional cases, the head of institutions have been advised that intimation of the same must reach the Council through respective District Inspector of Schools (SE) before granting such leave

MP, 4 february 2024, Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has advised the head of institutions to not grant Child Care Leave (CCL) or any kind of leave to any teaching or non-teaching staff during Higher Secondary (HS) examination, except in cases with extreme medical emergency or maternity leave.

In exceptional cases, the head of institutions have been advised that intimation of the same must reach the Council through respective District Inspector of Schools (SE) before granting such leave. 

According to a WBCHSE official, the separate notice on the leave was issued to ensure the invigilators do not take leave during the period to avoid duty. 

 According to sources, there is a scarcity of teachers in schools as the number of teachers are reducing due to retirements while the recruitment of teachers have slowed down due to various legal cases going on. This has led to a massive gap and the Council during the HS examinations has to acquire teachers from non-participating schools. 

 Hence, to ensure that staff do not take leave in order to avoid examination duty, the Council notified the head of institutions. The Higher Secondary examination will be held from February 16 to February 29. The examination timing was recently changed to 9:45 am to 1 pm for all major subjects instead of 12 pm to 3:15 pm. 

For the 13 vocational subjects, Visual Arts, Music, Health and Physical Education, it will be held from 9:45 am to 11:45 am (two hours). The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) had also notified that teachers and non-teaching staff of schools selected as centres and venues for the exam may be granted Child Care Leave (CCL) or Paternity Leave only under the circumstance when their child is a candidate for secondary or higher secondary exam of any statutory Board. 

“Any other nature of application of Child Care Leave (CCL) or Paternity Leave during the Madhyamik Pariksha (SE) 2024 shall have to be forwarded to WBBSE (addressed to Deputy Secretary-Academic) for its prior consideration and approval,” the notice stated. ",