MALAPPURAM: A pre-primary

teacher

of a government UP school in

has approached police alleging that the school authorities and the parent-teacher association of the school did not allow her to

duty after maternity leave as she gave birth to a child after just four months of marriage.

She has also accused parents and teachers of verbally abusing her at a

meeting. Kottakkal police will record the statement of the 33-year-old teacher on Wednesday.

According to the complaint filed by the woman, she has been working at the school for the past five years. She has been divorced for some time but was preparing for a second marriage. As the divorce procedures of the first marriage were getting delayed, she had started to live with her second husband even before legally marrying him. Later, they got legally married in June 2018 and she applied for maternity leave four months after the marriage. She delivered a baby on the second day after she applied for the leave.

In her complaint, the woman said when she came to the school after her leave ended in January 2019, the school authorities did not allow her to rejoin pointing out that she had applied for maternity leave just four months into her marriage.

The woman approached child rights commission seeking action against the school authorities. Subsequently, the commission sought a clarification from the deputy director of education (DDE). After a few months, when the summer vacation ended, the DDE completed its inquiry and issued a directive to the school authorities to allow the woman to rejoin service. But the headmaster and PTA officebearers were not ready to follow the DDE’s directions.

“We approached the school authorities citing the direction from the DDE. They convened a meeting, in which they verbally insulted me, besides refusing to allow me to rejoin. I filed a police complaint on June 14. The school authorities don’t have the right to discuss my personal life at a PTA meeting. I don’t know why they are bothered about my marital life and my pregnancy period,” said the teacher.

“We have started an investigation against the school authorities based on the complaint and a case would be registered after recording the woman’s statement,” said sub-inspector of Kottakkal police station Sandhya Devi.