Taking a slew of decisions to further improve school’s functioning in Punjab, the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday gave in-principle approval for legislation of Teachers’ Transfer Act in the Vidhan Sabha.
At the same time, he announced Rs 500 per month increase in the salaries of Mid-Day Meal workers and distribution of another 2.14 lakh smartphones to Class XII government school students this year.
The law would give legal sanctity to the Teachers Transfer Policy, introduced by the Government in 2019 to make the entire process transparent, efficient and corruption-free, said the Chief Minister, pointing out that since the policy was brought in, not a single complaint of corruption had been received with respect to transfer of school teachers.
Under the policy, which has now also been extended to non-teaching staff, of 1.12 lakh teachers, so far 21,600 teachers had availed the benefit.
On the issue of salary hike for MDM workers, the Chief Minister said that it was a long pending demand of the workers, who had got a hike last in 2017. The move will benefit 42,000 MDM workers in 19,000 schools.
The process of distribution of 2.14 lakh more smartphones will commence within three months, with budget allocation already made for 2020-21, said the chief minister adding that the proposal will be cleared at the next Cabinet meeting, and orders for the phones will be placed immediately thereafter to enable distribution to commence within the time-frame.