15-day paternity leave mulled

The government of Bangladesh is considering granting working fathers a 15-day paternity leave to ensure proper care of the newborns and their wives. It was one of the 38 proposals, pertaining to the Ministry of Public Administration, mooted on Thursday, the last day of deputy commissioners’ annual meet, the ministry’s Senior Secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury said. Upgrading the divisional commissioners’ post to first grade and paternity leave were among the proposals. ‘These two issues are under consideration,’ Chowdhury said replying to queries from reporters. ‘These are matters of policy decisions. But they were not discussed today,’ he said. Maternity leave was increased to six months in 2011. Since then, granting working fathers leave to take care of their wives and the newborns has been discussed, according to bdnews24.com.