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Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140) - Anguilla

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Article 2 of the Convention. Granting of paid educational leave. The Government indicates that following the 2008 financial crisis and the lack of economic growth, austerity measures were implemented, including budget cuts which resulted in a reduced number of scholarships. The situation in the country was further aggravated by the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017, which also negatively affected locally funded training initiatives. The Committee notes that there are nine students currently scheduled to return to Anguilla from scholarship programs, but that this number will be reduced in the coming years (to seven in 2019, five in 2020, three in 2021, and one in 2022–23). The Government indicates that a revised scheme has been introduced under the General Orders whereby paid educational leave is now granted only under certain conditions. The Committee notes, in particular, that under General Order 7.17, an officer who has served in the Anguilla public service for less than three years at the time of being granted a scholarship, will not receive any salary and officers who have been in the service for more than three years will receive only partial funding (from 40 per cent to 60 per cent of their salaries). It further notes that the Government still supports public sector employees who wish to pursue a degree or other tertiary level programmes at local tertiary campuses. Private sector enterprises are allowed to coordinate their own training initiatives on a voluntary and enterprise by enterprise basis, subject to company policy. The Government adds that several private sector companies have invested in their employees’ pursuit of career growth through locally facilitated tertiary channels, such as the University of the West Indies Open Campus and the Anguilla Community College. Noting the difficult situation prevailing in the country due to the damage caused by the recent hurricane, the Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged – in consultation with the representative employers’ and workers’ organizations – to promote the granting of paid educational leave for the purposes contemplated in Article 2 on the Convention: training at any level (Article 2(a)); general, social and civic education (Article 2(b)); and trade union education (Article 2(c)). The Committee invites the Government to include information in its next report on how or whether the revised scheme under the General Orders has affected workers’ uptake of educational leave when only partial funding is granted.

Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention. National policy on paid educational leave. The Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to provide information on the measures taken, within the framework of a national policy on paid educational leave for workers in both public and private sectors of the economy, in order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives set out in Article 3 of the Convention, and the manner in which the policy on educational leave is coordinated with the general policies enumerated in Article 4.

Part V of the report form. Practical application of the Convention. The Committee also hopes that the Government will soon be able to provide detailed information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice in both public and private sectors, including extracts of reports, studies or inquiries relating to the practical application of the Convention.