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Trainee development graduates to protest 

08 Nov 2021

  • Cite non-confirmation, meagre allowance 
BY Dinitha Rathnayake Trainee graduates are to conduct a nationwide protest today (9) based on several demands, including employment-related confirmations and the allowance received. Speaking to The Morning, Joint Development Officers Centre Chairman Lakmal Dissanayake said that the protest would be based on the 2020 graduate employment programme. “The training period of the trainee graduates recruited under the 2020 graduate employment programme has already exceeded two months. These trainees are still working in schools, Divisional Secretariats, Ministries and Local Government offices with an allowance of only Rs. 20,000. The training period of these trainee graduates ended on 2 September and these graduates should have had their confirmation.” According to Dissanayake, since the Government raised the age limit for the recruitment of teachers to 35 years, it could affect most of the graduates in this programme. “They have passed this age limit due to the Government‘s policy of delaying, and not because of their (the graduates) fault. Therefore, we ask the Government to put an end to this maximum age.” He also said that certain trainees have to attend to work even if they are pregnant or breastfeeding, without considering the circular issued for them during the Covid-19 pandemic period.  All 53,000 trainee graduates are expected to attend the protest organised at the District level. The Joint Development Officers Centre held a protest march at the Lipton Roundabout in Colombo on 15 February this year and a protest march near the Kollupitiya Junction demanding that the Government backdate and confirm the graduates recruited in 2019.


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