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Massive protest in Colombo yesterday: Prez to meet teachers before 30th

22 Jul 2021

  • Finance/Education officials to attend
  • Another discussion with G.L. on 27th
  • Cabinet paper due on 26th
  • TU action to continue until concrete solution
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Following a discussion held between teachers’ trade unions and officials of the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (22), the trade unions have been given an opportunity to meet with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa before 30 July in order to discuss their issues, including the teacher-principal salary anomaly. In addition, Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, according to the teachers’ trade unions, is to submit a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers on 26 July regarding the teachers’ issues, and in order to discuss the said proposal, a meeting will be held between Prof. Peiris and the teachers’ trade unions on 27 July. Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe, speaking to the media after the discussion, said that Prof. Peiris had also joined the discussion over the phone. According to him, a proposal will be submitted to the Cabinet on 26 July regarding the salary anomaly issue. In addition, Prof. Peiris has agreed to hold a discussion with the representatives of the teachers’ trade unions at 11 a.m. on 27 July to discuss the relevant proposal. “We will be meeting Prof. Peiris on 27 July and another discussion will be held between the President and all the trade union representatives before 30 July, where the progress of the meeting with Prof. Peiris will be discussed. In addition to the President, officials of the Finance Ministry and the Education Ministry will also attend that meeting,” Jayasinghe added. These developments came about after approximately 2,000 members of nearly 30 teachers’ trade unions staged a protest in Colombo yesterday, against what they claim to be “the Government’s continuous failure to address related issues including the teacher-principal salary anomaly, which has existed for more than 24 years”. They protested near the Colombo Fort Railway Station yesterday and proceeded to the Presidential Secretariat. Afterwards, three persons including Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin and CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe were allowed to enter the Presidential Secretariat where they had a discussion with its officials. However, Jayasinghe noted that proposals on the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue had been submitted to the Cabinet on a number of previous occasions and that therefore, no confidence could be placed in such proposals. He therefore added that all trade union actions initiated by them, including the withdrawal from online teaching activities, which continued for the 11th day yesterday, would continue until a definite solution is provided. Meanwhile, Stalin, who also spoke to the media during yesterday’s protest, said that they could not believe that the issues would be resolved through the proposal to be submitted to the Cabinet. Therefore, he also insisted that they would continue the ongoing trade union actions until a definite solution is found. Citing their unresolved issues, the teachers and principals’ trade unions recently announced that they would withdraw from duties related to the practical examinations of the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O/L) examination which is scheduled to commence on 26 July. CTU President Priyantha Fernando, on Wednesday (21) told The Morning that the teachers and principals had also decided not to apply for the duties pertaining to the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) examination which is scheduled to be held in November this year. Teachers and principals’ trade unions had decided to withdraw from all online teaching activities from 12 July until further notice, in protest over the arrest of a group of trade unionists and student activists, including Stalin, and the lack of a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue. In addition to online teaching activities, the teachers and principals had withdrawn from duties related to sending applications for examinations including the GCE A/L examination, online. They had also withdrawn from teaching activities at regional learning centres recently established by the Education Ministry with the aim of facilitating the education of students who find it difficult to pursue their education online. There are about 2,160 regional learning centres that employ nearly 30,000 teachers and principals, and the latter two groups had withdrawn from those duties too.  


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