Maternity leave plan ignored

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33492, 25 March 1974, Page 6

Maternity leave plan ignored

(N.Z. Press Association HAMILTON. The South Auckland Education Board has decided to ignore the Education Department’s maternity leave scheme until it receives clearer instructions on how to interpret it.

The board’s monthly meeting was told that the new scheme, allowing female teachers leave for pregnancy

and priority in . reappointment \after leave would be effective from April 1. The scheme makes no distinction between married and single teachers and pays six weeks full salary after the birth of the child, either alive or stillborn.

A teacher who resigns to have a baby and resumes teaching within J2 months would also be given priority of appointment. The District Senior Inspector of Primary .Schools (Mr H. J. Dowling) said materriity leave was first introduced to help overcome a drastic shortage of teachers and the new regulations forced teachers to make a firm commitment to return. The scheme was drafted five years ago and had only just been published, he said. Mr C. E. Wisely, (New Zealand Educational Institute) said the order must be explained and interpreted as to how much priority should be given to returning teachers.

He hoped the appointments committee would ignore the directive until it was given frill instractions.

Social Club Officers.—Officers elected at the recent annual meeting of the Sunnyside Social Club ineluded the • following:—President, Mrs E. E. Glen; secretary-treasurer, Mrs G. Rastrick.