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Teachers reject Government’s ‘unacceptable’ solution

01 Sep 2021

  • Strike action to continue
  • Dinesh says some teachers will accept Rs. 5K allowance
  • Teaching to be declared closed service before 20 Nov.
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Rejecting all measures announced by the Government to address issues in the education sector, especially the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue, teachers’ and principals’ trade unions announced yesterday (31) that they would continue with all ongoing trade union strike actions that have been initiated so far. The report prepared by the Cabinet Subcommittee appointed to look into the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue was discussed at the cabinet meeting held on 30 August. Accordingly, Minister of Education Dinesh Gunawardena announced the Government’s stance regarding the solutions planned to be provided to the relevant issues, including that of the salary anomalies, at the weekly cabinet media briefing yesterday. According to him, through the budget proposal for the year 2022, the Government hopes to make salary revisions to address the salary anomalies of teachers and principals. He further said that the Cabinet has granted approval to pay a monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000 to teachers and principals for the two months of September and October 2021 until the budget proposal is presented in the Parliament. Speaking further, Gunawardena added that the services of teachers, teaching instructors, and principals would be declared a closed service through a gazette notification to be issued before 20 November 2021. “In addition, the Education Ministry will work with the provincial councils and other relevant authorities to implement the other recommendations made by the subcommittee within a period of six months,” he elaborated. However, addressing a media briefing held yesterday, the teachers’ and principals’ trade union representatives said that they do not accept the statement made by Gunawardena. Commenting on this, Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that the proposals made by the Cabinet to resolve the issue of the teacher-principal salary anomalies are not acceptable. “We suggested that the subcommittee’s report be acknowledged as part of the report of the ‘Subodhini’ Committee, which was previously appointed to look into the said salary anomaly issue. In addition, the subcommittee has recommended that a certain amount of the salary be paid in instalments, but we suggested that it be paid altogether,” he mentioned. He claimed that the subcommittee has not taken those suggestions into consideration. “According to the subcommittee’s recommendations, a salary increase ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 11,000, depending on the employment grade of the individual teachers and principals, will be given. But what will we get when such a small amount is paid in instalments? We do not agree with what the Government has proposed and will continue our struggle. Instead of solving this problem, the Government has aggravated the problem,” Stalin further added. He also stressed that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa should discuss this matter with the teachers’ trade unions. “At present, this issue has been discussed in a number of cabinet meetings. But the Government has still failed to provide a solution. Therefore, we request someone who can provide a solution for this to discuss with us,” he noted. Meanwhile, when the media questioned Gunawardena as to what action would be taken by the Government if the teachers and principals continue to engage in trade union actions, he said that it is hoped that the teachers and principals would support the programme to educate students in a backdrop where the schools have been closed for more than one and a half years. Responding to a question by the media regarding information that trade unions were rejecting the Rs. 5,000 allowance proposed to be paid by the Government in September and October 2021, he added: “Some teachers may take it, some may not take it. That cannot be considered a big issue.” The trade union actions initiated by teachers’ and principals’ trade unions, including the withdrawal from online and physical teaching activities and examination duties demanding a solution to their issues, in particular the salary anomaly issue, marked the 51st day yesterday. Nearly 30 teachers’ and principals’ trade unions have embarked on a number of trade union actions, demanding a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue, the provision of facilities for teachers and students to carry out online education activities, and several other issues since 12 July 2021. The trade unions had decided to withdraw from all online teaching activities in protest over the lack of a solution to the teacher-principal salary anomaly issue. In addition to online teaching activities, teachers and principals had withdrawn from duties related to sending applications for examinations including the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) examination online. They had also withdrawn from teaching activities at regional learning centres recently established by the Ministry of Education. Also, nearly 5,800 teachers and principals had decided to withdraw from practical examination related duties of the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) examination that commenced on 26 July, and also from duties related to the GCE A/L and Grade Five Scholarship examinations that are to be held in November 2021.

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