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Teachers to hit the streets again

27 Sep 2021

  • Warn of street protests after country reopens
  • To be joined by university academics and unionists
BY Buddhika Samaraweera The teachers’ and principals’ trade unions have warned that if the Government continues to delay resolving their issues, including the teacher-principal salary anomalies, the protests on the streets that were suspended due to the current Covid-19 pandemic situation will have to be resumed once the country is reopened. Speaking to The Morning, Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) President Priyantha Fernando said that after the reopening of the country, plans are afoot to organise a series of protests following the Covid-19-related health guidelines. He further said that not only teachers and principals but also a large number of trade union members representing several sectors will participate in these protests. “It has been nearly 80 days since the trade union struggle was launched by us, but the Government does not seem to be prepared to provide a solution or to at least negotiate with us. Therefore, we will have to once again organise street protests which will be attended by a large number of people representing many other sectors,” he added. Meanwhile, following a discussion between the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) and the teachers’ and principals’ trade unions yesterday (27) regarding the issues of teachers and principals, including that of salary anomalies, the FUTA has decided to support the ongoing trade union struggle. Speaking to the media after the discussion, CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that they hope to discuss at length regarding the actions that could be taken in collaboration with the FUTA and the actions that could be taken separately, in order to force the authorities to provide solutions to their issues. “After discussions with us, the FUTA expressed their willingness to support our ongoing trade union struggle. Accordingly, we look forward to discussing actions that we can take together as well as those that can be taken separately in the future,” Stalin added. He further said that teachers’ and principals’ trade unions are to discuss the ongoing trade union struggle with trade unions representing a number of sectors today (28). According to him, trade union representatives from sectors such as health, transport, plantations, and telecommunications are to attend the discussion. 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 have withdrawn from all online and physical teaching activities and they have also withdrawn from duties related to sending applications for examinations including the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) and Grade Five Scholarship examinations, online. In addition, they have also warned that they would not report to examination-related duties once the A/L and Scholarship examinations commence.


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