The Directorate of Secondary Education in Haryana has withdrawn its earlier order that mandated approval from the Deputy Commissioner (DC) before processing Child Care Leave (CCL) applications for teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools. The decision, effective immediately, restores the previous system where CCL applications are routed through the school principal, Block Education Officer (BEO), and District Education Officer (DEO) before being forwarded to the state headquarters for final approval.
Background of the Order Withdrawal
The additional requirement of obtaining the DC's approval was introduced through a communication issued on March 9. According to employees, this extra layer of scrutiny caused significant delays in processing leave applications. Under the rules, an employee must submit a leave application one month before the commencement of the leave period. With the DC approval process, cases started getting delayed as files remained pending in DC offices for several days. Even after approval, the files had to return to the DEO before being forwarded to the headquarters, which significantly increased the processing time.
Employee Associations Hail the Decision
Satpal Sindhu, state president of the Haryana School Lecturer Association (HSLA), confirmed that the association had recently met the Director of Secondary Education and urged the department to revoke the March 9 instructions. Sindhu noted that the additional approval step had created a bottleneck, causing undue hardship to employees requiring child care leave.
Impact on Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff
The restoration of the earlier approval process is expected to provide major relief to thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff in government schools across Haryana. By eliminating the DC approval requirement, the department aims to streamline the leave processing system and reduce delays. The decision aligns with the original rules and ensures that CCL applications are processed more efficiently through the established hierarchy of school principal, BEO, and DEO.
Official Directive
The withdrawal order was issued by the Directorate of Secondary Education, effective immediately. No further clarification has been provided regarding the rationale behind the initial change, but the swift reversal indicates responsiveness to employee concerns.
