Chandigarh, Apr 20 (IANS): In a slew of decisions to further improve the functioning of schools in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday gave in-principle approval for a legislation of the teachers transfer Act in the Vidhan Sabha, while announcing Rs 500 per month increase in the salaries of mid-day meal workers.

Also he gave consent for distribution of another 2.14 lakh smart phones to Class XII government school students this year.

The enactment of the legislation will give legal sanctity to the Teachers Transfer Policy, introduced by his government in 2019 to make the entire process transparent, efficient and corruption-free, said the Chief Minister, pointing out 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 the mid-day meal workers, the Chief Minister said it was a long pending demand of the workers, who had got a hike last in 2017. The move will benefit 42,000 workers in 19,000 schools.

The Chief Minister further announced that the process of distribution of 2.14 lakh more smart phones will commence within three months, with budget allocation already made for 2020-21.

The proposal will be cleared at the next meeting of the state Cabinet, and orders for the phones will be placed immediately thereafter to enable distribution to commence within the timeframe, said the Chief Minister.

The proposal for procurement of smart phones for these students had already been sent to the Department of Industries, he added.

Pointing out that 1.75 lakh students studying in class XII had already been provided smart phones in 2020-21, the Chief Minister said in addition, 3,502 Tablets had already been provided to the students of government schools, while Rs 5.25 crore had been kept aside for e-libraries.