Its teachers and other employees wishing to go abroad on leave in large numbers has become a major problem for state education department.

The order comes almost a month after another such order on ex-India said that many teachers were applying for long leave to fly abroad “after summer vacations” which if approved, would lead to loss of studies for students in government schools.

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that this year alone more than 3,500 teachers have applied for ex-India leave of which more than 1,550 have been rejected.

For Punjab education department, the problem of its teachers and employees going abroad after taking leave, is deeper and way more serious. Some of its teachers take leave on pretext of holiday or meeting their children settled abroad, and never return. It then becomes a herculean task for the department to trace them. It follows a series of show cause notices leading to initiation of proceedings to terminate their services, a process that often takes years to complete.

As per the latest data accessed by The Indian Express from the education department, 3,537 teachers and employees applied for ex-India leave this year of which 1,571 applications were rejected and 1,812 approved. Another 110 applications were withdrawn by the applicants while 44 still remain pending for consideration.

Further, the data shows that at least 25 employees who went abroad on leave, never joined back. Action under the Punjab Civil Services Rules, 1970 has been initiated against them.

Karamjit Kaur, assistant director, office of director, school education (secondary), said that there were multiple reasons for rejection of leave applications. “We had clarified in earlier order too that teachers should apply for leave to visit abroad only during summer or winter vacation. Such long leave cannot be approved in the middle of a session. The entire leave application process is online. If teachers apply for leave for more than two months, only education minister can approve it. Some employees also submit incomplete applications without required documents, such a copy of the passport, which leads to rejection of their application”.

Kaur said that the disciplinary action has been initiated against employees who took ex-India leave but never joined back. “In most cases, they go to Canada or the US. We keep serving them notices,” she added.

The latest order issued Tuesday by the department says that all district education officers (DEOs) should make it clear to teachers that they should book their tickets only after their leave is approved on e-Punjab portal.

It further says that it has been noticed that even after completion of their ex India leave, some teachers do not return to their station of posting and demand extension of leave, despite having given an undertaking to the contrary. The DEOs and principals have been directed to submit information regarding such teachers to the head office. Further, holding DEOs and principals responsible for any delay in reporting such cases, the order says that in such circumstances, disciplinary action will be initiated against them too.

In an earlier order issued on June 21, the department had said that “studies of children should not be compromised at all because of ex-India leave” taken by the teachers. It said that many teachers were applying for leave to visit abroad to meet their children or for holidays, but for “the coming months” when the studies of children in schools will be at peak. “Hence it should be ensured that teachers/other employees of the department go abroad only during summer/winter vacation,” read the order.

Vikram Dev Singh, state president, Democratic Teachers Front, asked why such restrictions have been imposed only on education department employees. “This is harsh reality of today’s Punjab that youth have moved abroad to study. So how can teachers be stopped from meeting their children,” he asked.

While the education department is struggling to deal with its teachers who have NRI dreams, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced that soon government school teachers will be sent abroad to countries such as Finland, Switzerland and Singapore for training.

There are nearly 1.13 lakh teachers and 12700 non-teaching staffers under the Punjab education department.