Chandigarh, September 14 : Providing a major relief to mid-day-meal (MDM) workers and other staff, the Punjab government has given its nod to provide them maternity leave benefits in accordance with the Maternity Benefit Act. While confirming the development, Punjab School education minister Mr. Vijay Inder Singla said that mid-day-meal is purely government funded scheme and all female employees under this scheme will be eligible to avail the benefits of maternity leave. The cabinet minister said that though the nod has been given by the government but the beneficiary employees will remain bound by the conditions and guidelines so issued by the union or state government from time to time.
Mr. Vijay Inder Singla said that Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab government is working tirelessly for the welfare and upliftment of all underprivileged sections of the society. He added that the education department has also been taking new initiatives to uplift the standard of education and provide all basic amenities to the students in the school premises. He said that more than 6,000 government schools have been turned into smart schools and apart from modern learning techniques, other infrastructure has also been upgraded.
Mr. Singla said that these efforts have also started showing positive results as the government schools have witnessed around 15 percent increase in registrations. He added that amidst the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the government school teachers were regularly taking online classes of students with the help of the internet. He said that the school education department has also been broadcasting classes with the help of TV channels including Doordarshan. He said that apart from online classes, the department has also launched several online competitions and students were regularly being encouraged for active participation.