In Haryana, pregnant teachers will have to wait for government jobs

Chandigarh : The Haryana government's education department has issued a new policy. A policy that says women teachers who get appointed for government teaching jobs will not be allowed to join work if they are found to be more than 12 weeks pregnant.

This simply means, the terms of their employment will remain invalid till the time they are pregnant and become valid only after the baby is born and a fitness certificate produced. This new rule is just for new teachers being hired and is not applicable to women who are already working as government school teachers.

As expected this has created an uneasy situation with some of aspiring teachers calling this is an insensitive decision that should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

In a state where government jobs are envied upon, another fear is that this could encourage abortions in an attempt to hang on to prized jobs.

"This decision is an ugly joke with female teachers who want to work as government teachers," says 38-year-old Archana Suhasani, an aspiring teacher. "If a woman is 12 weeks pregnant and government says she is unfit, then it's quite possible she may even go in for abortion. This way, social evils in the society will increase and we totally oppose this," she explained.

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However the government's defence for a policy like this has been that women who are more than 12 weeks pregnant need to go on maternity leave and their prolonged leave affects students so it keeps in mind a child's best interests.

This decision hasn't gone too well with everyone in the government. Haryana's Education minister Geeta Bhukal spoke against this policy saying it needed to be reviewed. "The decision was taken with a view to see that students don't suffer, however we will review the policy," she added.

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Haryana is one of India's leading states with a skewed sex ratio. Its infamous Khap Panchayats are already perceived as being insensitive towards women. This government policy just puts ambitious women on a back foot; something it may not want to do.

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