The government is working to ensure that all teachers and staff in schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation and brought into the fold of social security schemes.
To this effect, the labour ministry and the EPFO are working with the CBSE to ensure that all such schools comply with statutory requirements like EPF, Employees State Insurance and labour laws.
All CBSE affiliated schools now have to be registered with the EPFO as well as on the government’s Shram Suvidha portal, which is the online platform for labour law compliance. The EPFO has also asked field offices to verify coverage status of the schools and take necessary action, wherever required.
According to official data, there are nearly 28,500 schools affiliated to the CBSE. The EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 applies to all establishments engaging 20 or more workers.
Under current provisions, all the CBSE affiliated schools are directed to ensure compliance of all statutory requirements like EPF, ESI and Labour Laws with respect to the school and staff of the school. However, it is found that often the norms are not fully followed by schools given that many of them are in far flung areas.
The move comes at a time when the government is trying to expand coverage of its social security schemes and bring more workers under their ambit. It has also held similar campaigns to ensure that building and construction workers are also brought under the fold of the EPFO.