Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2002, publiée 91ème session CIT (2003)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the points raised in its 1998 direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that the Government states in its second report on the application of the Convention that no new measures have been adopted to give effect to these provisions. It recalls that, in this regard, under Article 5 of the Convention, the means by which provision is made for the granting of paid educational leave may include national laws and regulations, collective agreements, arbitration awards, or such other means as may be consistent with national practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report in respect of the measures taken or envisaged to this effect. The Committee trusts that this report will also contain detailed information on the points raised in its previous direct request which were in respect of the following points:

The Committee notes the concise information supplied by the Government in its first report on the application of the Convention. It notes the provisions applying to public servants, under which educational leave is granted for the purpose of passing examinations and officials are granted sufficient income during study assignments abroad. It notes that the period spent on such study assignments may or may not qualify as service for the assessment of pension claims, entitlement to leave and pay increments, depending on the degree to which the interests of the service are affected by the study assignment. The Committee recalls in this connection that under Article 11 of the Convention a period of paid educational leave shall be assimilated to a period of effective service for the purpose of establishing claims to social benefits and other rights deriving from the employment relation.

With regard to the private sector, the Government indicates in its report that paid educational leave in this sector is regulated through collective bargaining and collective agreements. The Committee would be grateful if in its second report the Government would provide detailed information on collective agreements which provide for the granting of paid educational leave. Please supply also relevant extracts of such agreements.

More generally, the Committee asks the Government to provide full information in its second report on the effect given to each provision of the Convention under each question in the report form. Please specify, in particular, how the policy to promote the granting of paid educational leave for the purposes laid down in Articles 2 and 3 was formulated in association with employers’ and workers’ organizations and education and training establishments, in accordance with Article 6.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.