Grant of Financial Assistance for Purchase of Textbooks/Notebooks to School-Going Children of Industrial Workers/Employees (GLWB)

What is the GLWB textbooks and notebooks grant?

The Grant of Financial Assistance for Purchase of Textbooks and Notebooks to School-Going Children of Industrial Workers and Employees is a welfare scheme of the Goa Labour Welfare Board, which functions under the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Goa. The Board draws on the Goa Labour Welfare Fund, constituted under the Goa, Daman and Diu Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1986, which came into effect on 26 January 1990.

The scheme targets a narrow but real gap: the cost of textbooks and notebooks for a child in the first four years of school, in a household where the earner is a low-wage industrial worker. It provides a defined annual amount per child, paid through the school rather than in cash to the parent.

The amounts are:

The step from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,800 at Class 3 tracks the real rise in the cost of prescribed textbooks as a child moves out of the earliest grades.

This is one of a family of Goa Labour Welfare Board schemes for industrial workers, which also includes assistance for one set of school uniform for children in Classes 1 to 4, scholarships for employees' children, a child care benefit for female industrial workers, creches, labour welfare centres, grant-in-aid to libraries, and assistance to laid-off and retrenched workers. A worker eligible for one is often eligible for others, and the Board's forms are built on a common structure.

Who is eligible for the GLWB textbook grant?

You can apply if:

• You are a regular industrial worker or employee covered by the Goa Labour Welfare Board.
• You have at least 6 months of continuous service on the date of submitting the application.
• Your wages or salary do not exceed Rs 20,000 per month.
• Your child is studying in Class 1, 2, 3 or 4 in a recognised or approved school.

You cannot apply if:

• You are employed in a supervisory or managerial role earning Rs 1,600 and above per month. The Fund covers skilled and unskilled manual or clerical labour other than casual or contract work, and other than positions of supervision or management.
• Your monthly wages exceed Rs 20,000, calculated including all allowances and perquisites allowed by the establishment but excluding bonus.
• You have less than 6 months of continuous service with the establishment on the date of application.
• Your child is not in Classes 1 to 4, or is studying in a school that is not recognised or approved.

How applicants are ranked when funds are limited

Meeting the eligibility bar does not guarantee sanction. The Board applies selection criteria:

• Lowest income of the parents is the primary criterion.
• Preference is given to students studying in higher classes among the four covered.
• Workers having not more than two children are given priority.

That means a worker at the bottom of the wage range with one child in Class 4 is ranked ahead of a worker near the Rs 20,000 ceiling with four children in Class 1.

What documents are required?

The Board's own application proforma is built in two parts. Part I is filled by the worker and covers the residential address and contact number, the name and full address of the industrial establishment, the date from which employed, average monthly income for self and spouse and from all sources, the total number of children, the name and date of birth of the child, the class in which the child is studying, and the school's postal address.

Part II is a certificate signed by the establishment, giving the worker's serial number in the establishment register, the nature of employment, and confirmation that the worker has completed more than six months of continuous service, together with the monthly figure including all allowances and perquisites but excluding bonus. A separate certificate from the head of the institution confirms the class and academic year and whether the student was passed, promoted or detained.

A disability certificate, where relevant, must come from a Government Medical Officer in the Directorate of Health Services or from Goa Medical College.

How to apply for the GLWB textbook grant

1. Download or collect the prescribed application form for the scheme from the official website of the Department of Labour and Employment, Goa, or from the office of the Goa Labour Welfare Board.
2. Fill in Part I of the form with your employment details, household income, the number of children, and the name, date of birth, class and school of the child for whom you are applying.
3. Get Part II certified by your employer, confirming your serial number in the establishment register, your category of employment, your completion of more than six months of continuous service, and your monthly wages.
4. Get the certificate from the head of the institution signed and sealed, stating the class and the academic year and the promotion status of the child.
5. Attach the supporting documents: salary statement, school enrolment record, income certificate, and the caste or disability certificate if applicable — self-attested where required.
6. Submit the complete application through your employer or through the school where your child studies to the Secretary, Goa Labour Welfare Board, 4th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto Centre, Panaji, Goa 403001, so that it reaches the Secretary on or before 30 September.

The 30 September deadline

The Board is blunt on this point. Applications that are incomplete, that are submitted without the necessary supporting documents, or that are not received on or before 30 September, are liable to be rejected without any further correspondence. There is no separate appeal window. A worker who misses the date waits for the next academic year.

Because the application must travel through the employer or the school before it reaches the Board, start the process in the first weeks of the academic year rather than in the last week of September.

How the money reaches the family

Disbursement is made through the management of the head of the institution where the child is studying. The head of the school receives and passes on the assistance, which is why the institution's certificate is a mandatory part of the file and why keeping the school informed of the application matters.

The Board also warns that where a worker is found to have secured the assistance by fraudulent means, the whole amount of assistance will be recovered from him or her forthwith. Wage figures and service periods should therefore match what the establishment's own records show.

Common reasons an application is rejected

• Arrived after 30 September, which is the single most common failure.
• Incomplete file; Part II uncertified by the employer, or the institution's certificate missing.
• Wages above Rs 20,000 a month, once allowances and perquisites are added.
• Under six months of continuous service on the date of application.
• Supervisory or managerial position earning Rs 1,600 and above a month, which is outside the Fund's definition of a covered worker.
• Child not in Classes 1 to 4, or in a school that is not recognised or approved.

Help and grievance redressal

• Secretary, Goa Labour Welfare Board, 4th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto Centre, Panaji, Goa 403001
• Office of the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, Goa, 2nd Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto Plaza, Panaji, Goa
• Phone: 0832-2437081, 0832-2437082, 0832-2437083
• Email: com-labo.goa@nic.in
• Website: labour.goa.gov.in/labour-welfare-board

No fee is payable for the application, and no agent is authorised to charge a worker for filing it. The Board's own form, routed through the employer or the school, is the only accepted channel.

How to check your application status

The Goa Labour Welfare Board does not run an online tracking system for this grant, so there is no application number or portal login to check against. Status has to be followed up through the same offline channel the application travelled through.

Steps to follow up:

1. Ask the school first. Since the assistance is disbursed through the head of the institution where the child studies, the school is usually the first to hear whether the Board has sanctioned and released the amount for that academic year. Check with the school office rather than waiting for a notice.
2. Ask your employer next. Because Part II of the form is certified by the establishment and the file is routed through the employer, the establishment's welfare officer or HR contact often has visibility into whether the Board has acknowledged receipt of the application.
3. Call the Board's office directly if neither the school nor the employer has an update. Use the listed numbers, 0832-2437081, 0832-2437082, or 0832-2437083, and be ready to give the worker's name, the establishment's name, and the child's class and school so the office can trace the file.
4. Write to the Secretary if a phone call does not resolve it. A letter or email to com-labo.goa@nic.in, referencing the date the application was submitted and the school it was routed through, creates a written record of the follow-up.
5. Visit in person at the Secretary, Goa Labour Welfare Board, 4th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto Centre, Panaji, Goa 403001, if the amount has not reached the school well after the 30 September deadline has passed for that cycle.

Because sanctioned amounts are paid to the school rather than directly to the worker, a delay is often on the disbursement side even after an application has been approved, so it is worth confirming with the school whether the Board has released funds for the batch of applications from that year before assuming the individual application was rejected.