Teachers led by ‘colonels’ to march on Edu. Ministry

October 22, 2012, 9:40 pm


by Dasun Edirisinghe, The Island

Principals and teachers of the State-run schools are scheduled to march to the Education Ministry with several demands tomorrow, according to a JVP affiliated trade union.

The government recently enlisted 30 Class 1 Principals Brevet Colonels.

General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union Mahinda Jayasinghe told The Island the protest march would start from the Ayurveda roundabout Rajagiriya and end with a demonstration opposite the Education Ministry, Isurupaya.

He said that they would hold the protest march and demonstration to force education authorities to grant their six demands.

"Our main demand is the implementation of the recommendations made by the Cabinet of ministers in 2008 to rectify the anomalies in salaries of principals and teachers," Jayasinghe said.

He said that they also demanded immediate solutions to problems as regards their promotions and salary arrears, implementation of the national teachers’ transfer policy, allocation of funds for disaster loans and property loans, allocation of 6 per cent of the GDP for education and an end to political interferences in the education field.

Jayasinghe said that they had held a meeting with Deputy Education Minister Vijithamuni Zoysa and two additional directors on Oct. 18, but it had ended inconclusively.

"We held another discussion with the Deputy Education Minister and Secretary of the Ministry yesterday," he said, adding it, too, had ended without a solution.

The Teachers’ and Principals’ Trade Union Joint Committee has organised the protest march. The TPTUJC includes Ceylon Teachers’ Union, Ceylon Teachers’ Service Union, Independent Teachers’ Union, All Ceylon United Teachers’ Union, National Education Employees Union, Common Education Professionals Union, All Ceylon Principals’ Union and Sri Lanka National Principals’ Union.