SB assures FUTA he will fix meeting with President

June 20, 2012, 9:30 pm

By Dasun Edirisinghe, the island

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) yesterday received an assurance from Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake that a meeting would be arranged with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss their grievances, FUTA President Dr. Nirmal Devasiri told The Island.

Dr. Devasiri said that Minister Dissanayake offered to seek a meeting with the President after yesterday’s talks, which also involved Higher Education Secretary, Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, failed to resolve contentious issues. According to him the talks focused on their demand to allocate six per cent of the GDP for education and the salary issue.

Asked whether the FUTA would suspend its decision to strike on July 4, the FUTA chief said that they would go ahead with it, though the minister promised to arrange a meeting.

President Mahinda Rajapaska himself had broken the earlier promise to grant them redress through the budget 2012, Dr. Devasiri said adding that as responsible professionals in the country they would meet him again.

If there is no positive response from President Rajapaksa, too, before July 04 they would launch a continuous strike, he said.